WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has upheld a federal law and its stiff prison terms aimed at people who have been convicted of repeated acts of domestic violence on Indian lands.
The justices said in a unanimous decision Monday that the law can be used against defendants, even if they did not have lawyers in earlier domestic violence convictions in tribal courts.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees an attorney for criminal defendants in state and federal courts. Under the Indian Civil Rights Act, defendants have the right to hire their own attorneys in tribal court but are not guaranteed that one will be retained by the court for them.
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