The Kennebec County Superior Court on Jan. 3 issued a ruling in Robbins v. State of Maine. This lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine on behalf of all the people in Maine currently charged with crimes who have the right to a lawyer at state expense because they could be sentenced to jail and could not afford a lawyer.

The ACLU has asserted that this group’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel is violated when the state is unable to appoint a lawyer to represent them. The court rightly ruled that the state is in fact violating individuals’ Sixth Amendment rights by failing to provide attorneys in these circumstances.

As the leaders of Maine’s first public defenders, we agree with the court’s conclusion, and we remain committed to continuing to assert that right on behalf of all the people we serve.

The ruling in the Robbins case definitively refutes the arguments made in the case by Maine’s Attorney General’s Office in representing the state in this case. We write to make clear our absolute disagreement with the spurious argument made by the attorney general for a very limited application of how the Sixth Amendment functions, and when individuals need a defender.

We cannot agree with the AG’s position, as it runs counter to our ethical responsibility to uphold the Constitution and our mission to provide high quality defense representation to Maine people accused of crimes.

We come to work every day, along with all assistant public defenders in our offices, and do our best to fulfill the promise of the Sixth Amendment for our clients. That promise, foundational in our democracy, is that no matter who you are — how poor or unpopular, no matter your politics or your personal history — you deserve a skilled, dedicated and zealous champion to fight for your liberty and your rights when you are confronted with the mighty power of the state.

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In our everyday work, this looks exactly as the court describes it in its recent decision. It looks like investigating the other side to every story. It looks like navigating the technical and complex rules of procedure and evidence to be sure the state is playing by the rules. And sometimes, it looks like just standing up next to someone, so they are not alone on the worst day of their life.

While it is clear the attorney general, representing the state, knows not and cares not for the work we do, the court’s decision in this case recognizes the critical importance of that work. Nonetheless, there remains a constitutional crisis in our state, wherein hundreds of people charged with crimes do not have lawyers today, even as those charges impact their daily lives.

We alone as public defenders cannot solve this crisis. We cannot answer the promise of the Sixth Amendment for all those with pending cases and still meet the standards of diligence, professionalism, and excellence to which we hold ourselves and our offices. There are simply too many.

Nor is the answer, as the AG’s office suggests, to abandon our commitment or minimize our role under the Sixth Amendment. Rather, the solution to this crisis must be one that rises to the challenge and keeps the promise of the Sixth Amendment — that the accused shall have the assistance of counsel for their defense.

That solution will require all the entities in the criminal legal system, the Legislature, the courts, the prosecutors, and the defenders to make tough choices. In making such choices, all the players must recognize that our work as defenders is an integral part of enforcing the criminal laws.

Our work upholding the Sixth Amendment is a necessary cost that must be factored in when those players with discretion allocate their fiscal and human resources toward prosecution. When we are left out of that calculus, the Sixth Amendment is trampled, and the system crumbles.

The authors are all district public defenders: Toby Jandreau (Aroostook), Logan Perkins (Highlands Region), Maxwell Coolidge (Downeast Region), Frayla Tarpinian (Capital Region) and Jesse James Ian Archer (Tri-County).

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