Ross v. Moffitt

We are asked in this case to decide whether Douglas v. California, 372 U. S. 353 (1963), which requires appointment of counsel for indigent state defendants on their first appeal as of right, should be extended to require counsel for discretionary state appeals and for applica*603tions for review in this Court. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that such appointment was required by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.1

I

The case now before us has resulted from consolidation of two separate cases, North Carolina criminal prosecutions brought in…