They talk about the indictment's "chilling effect" on the defense of unpopular clients.

Ms. Stewart, who has long championed unpopular clients, said she was "emphatically not guilty."

Mr. Craig, who is 55, has served as advocate for a number of unpopular clients and causes.

But a relative handful of lawyers serving poor communities and unpopular clients soldier on.

Madison's fiancee doesn't want him defending an unpopular client because it could harm his political future.

Each is tucked away in the middle of the country, far removed from their unpopular clients.

In private practice, associates said, he readily accepted unpopular clients, including an underground campus newspaper and an antiwar professor who had lost his job.

Unpopular Clients Taking unpopular clients and controversial cases is another measure of commitment.

Warren Burger's short dissent worried that the decision might make it less likely that lawyers would be willing to take the cases of unpopular clients.

No doubt the outcome of this case will have a chilling effect on lawyers who might represent unpopular clients.