Sixth Amendment

The Supreme Court announced Thursday a potentially significant change in how crime lab reports are used in trials, ruling that a defendant has the right to cross-examine in front of the jury the experts who prepared these reports. Crime labs have been subjected to criticism in the last decade, much of it because of DNA evidence that has shown at least 240 prisoners were in fact not guilty.

In three current high-profile criminal cases, federal prosecutors have asked that the identities of Israeli government witnesses be withheld from defendants and their attorneys -- a move some legal scholars see as a highly unusual end run around the 6th Amendment. Defense attorneys in all three cases have argued, with mixed results, that allowing U.S.

John Allen Muhammad's request that he be allowed to serve as his own attorney was an uncommon legal move. But under the 6th Amendment, criminal defendants have the right to represent themselves -- a right solidified by a 1975 Supreme Court ruling that set a high bar for judges to turn down such requests.