The Indigent\u27s Right to a Transcript of Record

There is no more fascinating subject in the field of federal constitutional law than the relationship between due process and equal protection, concepts brought together in the fourteenth amendment. Governmental action that is fundamentally unfair and a denial of due process may also involve discriminatory treatment and a denial of equal protection.\u27 Accordingly, in a number of cases the distinction between the two concepts has been blurred. In Douglas v. California, the Supreme Court held that on first appeal counsel must be furnished to indigents at state expense because the failure to provide professional representation is both fundamentally unfair and an invidious discrimination on the basis of wealth. Similarly, Griflin v. Illinois held that when the adequate and effective review of a criminal conviction depends upon the availability of a written trial record, an indigent is entitled to a free transcript. These two cases, taken together, state what has been called the Griffin-Douglas equality principle, which is based upon a blend of due process and equal protection considerations