A Right To Counsel Or A Right To One Phone Call?

[Photo from telephone-directory.info]

We have seen it in all the movies and t.v. crime shows:  A citizen gets arrested by the police and immediately demands his or her "right to one phone call!"  But have you ever considered the fact that the United States Constitution actually does NOT give you the right to a phone call.  Instead, the Sixth Amendment actually gives you the right to counsel and, in order to exercise that right, as a practical matter, it generally becomes necessary to use a telephone to call (and retain) a criminal lawyer.

So, if, God forbid, you get arrested, please don't demand your "right" to one phone call!  Instead, ask if you may use the telephone in order to call a lawyer.  After all, if you only have the right to just one telephone call, what will you do if all the phones at The Goolsby Law Firm, LLC are busy?!