Gideon v. Wainwright in the United States

Gideon v. Wainwright 372 U.S. 335 (1963)

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled GIDEON v. WAINWRIGHT 372 U.S. 335 (1963) From time to time in constitutional history an obscure individual becomes the symbol of a great movement in legal doctrine. Character and circumstance illuminate a new understanding of the Constitution. So it was in the case of Clarence Earl Gideon.Gideon was
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Case Details

Appellant

Clarence Earl Gideon

Appellee

Louie L. Wainwright, Director, Division of Corrections

Appellant’s Claim

That the Sixth Amendment requires states to provide legal counsel for impoverished criminal

Defendant

charged with serious offenses.

Chief Lawyers for Apellant

Abe Fortas

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

Bruce R. Jacob

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black (writing for the Court), William J. Brennan, Jr., Tom C. Clark, William O. Douglas, Arthur Goldberg, John Marshall Harlan II, Potter Stewart, Earl Warren, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

None

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision of the Court

18 March 1963

Decision of the Court

Declaring that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Sixth Amendment right to counsel binding on the states, the Supreme Court unanimously voted to order that Gideon be assigned a court-appointed lawyer and retried.

Related Cases

Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455 (1942).

Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25 (1972).

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).

Sources

West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, Volume 10.

Analysis and Background of the Court Case

Gideon v. Wainwright made an enormous contribution to the so-called “due process revolution” going on in the Court led by Chief Justice Warren. Because of the ruling in this case, all indigent felony defendants-like many others charged with misdemeanors-have a right to court-appointed attorneys.

Clarence Earl Gideon was a drifter who occasionally worked at the Bay Harbor Poolroom in Panama City, Florida. On the morning of 3 June 1961, after a patrol officer discovered that the pool hall had been burglarized, eyewitnesses led police to arrest Gideon. He professed his innocence, but two months later, Gideon was put on trial for burglary. A 1942 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Betts v. Brady, which held that states need appoint counsel only to those indigent criminal defendants facing the death penalty, was still the law of the land. Gideon defended himself without benefit of legal counsel. Predictably, he was found guilty. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Gideon applied to the Florida Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus, asking to be freed because he had been denied his right to counsel. When the state supreme court denied Gideon’s petition, he submitted a five-page handwritten appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Warren Court had been looking for an opportunity to overturn Betts v. Brady, and it agreed to hear Gideon’s appeal. The Court appointed Abe Fortas, one of the best-known appellate lawyers in the country (and later a Supreme Court justice himself) to argue the case.

Introduction to Gideon v Wainwright

Gideon v. Wainwright, important court case of 1963 in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimously that defendants in all felony cases are entitled to legal counsel. Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinion (written explanation of the decision) of the Court, which held that if a defendant charged with a serious crime cannot afford an attorney, the government is required to provide one. The Gideon decision overturned a prior Supreme Court case indicating that governments must provide legal counsel only for individuals charged with capital offenses-that is, crimes punishable by death.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Information about Gideon v Wainwright in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Gideon V Wainwright