Gideon Turns 50

The Supreme Court decided unanimously that Earl Gideon had a right to be represented by a court-appointed attorney in his trial for breaking and entering. That was 50 years ago today, in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), available on Justia and on Google Scholar. You can read a summary and hear the oral argument on the Oyez Project.

The National Law Journal has several articles marking the anniversary (all dated March 18, 2013):

• 'Gideon' at 50: A Muted Trumpet (includes a timeline of Supreme Court right-to-counsel cases)
• Jenna Greene, Gideon's Promise Still Unfulfilled
• Tony Mauro, Gideon remains 'a wake-up call' (interview with Abe Krash, the last remaining lawyer from the team that handled Gideon's Supreme Court case, after the Court granted cert. based on his handwritten petition)
• Marcia Coyle, From Gideon opponent to public defender (profile of Bruce Jacob, who argued the case for Florida and then spent much of his career on indigent defense)
• Eve Brensike Primus, Not much to celebrate: Fifty years later, the promise of Gideon remains largely unfulfilled (op ed)
• Martha F. Davis, A strong need for civil legal assistance: Gaps in civil representation that undermine equality and fairness must still be addressed (op ed)

Earl Gideon file from Fla. Div. of Corrections

Graphic credit: Florida Dep't of Corrections, Florida Corrections Centuries of Progress timeline(includes other images related to the case).