impotence

…next friend to assert constitutional rights on behalf of an incompetent patient who is unable to do so. Thus, if Nancy Cruzan's incapacity to "exercise" her rights is to alter the balance between her interests and the State's, there must be some further explanation of how it does so. The Court offers two possibilities, neither…

…the death penalty could theoretically be imposed for the crime of a 7-year-old, though there was a rebuttable presumption of incapacity to commit a capital (or other) felony until the age of 14. See ibid. (citing 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries 23- 24; 1 M. Hale, Pleas of the Crown 24-29 (1800)). : See Alaska…

…it would be deficient in efficacy and power. Its general principles would have little value and be converted by precedent into impotent and lifeless formulas. Rights declared in words might be lost in reality." When the Fourth and Fifth Amendments were adopted, "the form that evil had theretofore taken," had been…

…with youth—for example, his inability to deal with police officers or prosecutors (including on a plea agreement) or his incapacity to assist his own attorneys. See, e.g., Graham , 560 U. S., at (slip op., at 27) (“[T]he features that distinguish juveniles from adults also put them at a significant disadvantage in…