How has the Court interpreted the meaning of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel?

That interpretation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is consistent not only with the literal language of the Amendment, which requires the existence of both a "criminal prosecutio[n] " and an "accused," but also with the purposes which we have recognized that the right to counsel serves. We have recognized that the "core purpose" of the counsel guarantee is to assure aid at trial, "when the accused [is] confronted with both the intricacies of the law and the advocacy of the public prosecutor."

Id. at 188-89 (quoting United States v. Ash, 413 U.S. 300, 309 (1973)) (alterations in original). The opinion notes: