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Chapter 1 + 2 Summary and Analysis

Clarence Earl Gideon is a fifty-one-year-old white man from the South who believes that he was denied due process of the law because he was not assigned an attorney during his trial. Gideon, holding to the idea that the Constitution assured him of that right, files a petition with the United States Supreme Court. He mails his request from the Florida State Prison in Raiford, and it's received by assistant Supreme Court Clerk Michael Rodak, Jr. While the rules allow some leniency for petitions filed in this manner, Rodak does check to be certain the petitioners have followed the rules that are enforced. Gideon's does and successfully clears the first hurdle toward being heard by the Supreme Court. H.G. Cockran, director of the Florida Division of Corrections, was named a respondent in Gideon's case.

Gideon isn't a "professional criminal" but simply couldn't seem to hold a job. He has served time in prison before the current incarceration but that hasn't stopped him caring about freedom. He is so determined that when his first petition is filed because there's no "pauper's affidavit," Gideon uses the Court-provided samples to file again. The petition is handwritten, neatly, which is also allowed in such cases. Gideon says his case should be heard because his trial violated the Fourteenth Amendment - he had no attorney. In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't guarantee an attorney but Gideon argues that point. The law actually says that only those in "special circumstances" are to be provided cases - a person who is illiterate, ignorant, young, mentally ill or accused of a capital offense. A transcript of the proceedings indicates that Gideon asks for an attorney and is denied by the trial judge.

The number of subjects available for petitioning the Supreme Court is limited. A question of interpretation of the Constitution is one of those and it's on that basis that the trial was "so unfair" it doesn't provide "due process" that Gideon submits his petition. It's also important to note that federal law supersedes state law. The court system must run its course, meaning that a case must go through the state's court system before being appealed to the Supreme Court. There are some exceptions to even these rules. Gideon's case meets the requirements meaning the Supreme Court has the power to decide to hear it - but they still aren't required to consider the case. The Judge's Bill of 1925 gives the Supreme Court Justices the freedom to decide which cases they'll hear with only a few exceptions, and they need give no reason for their decisions. Chief Justice Hughes noted that the Supreme Court should only hear cases that will impact past the initial petitioners.

As it turns out, the issue of whether a defendant is entitled to legal counsel has been recently on the minds of the Supreme Court Justices, giving Gideon's petition an addition boost into the system.

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The Supreme Court often received requests from prisoners so that aspect of Gideon's case was nothing new. It's interesting that the clerks who handle those requests seem so ardent about their jobs. It's noted that sometimes, one of the clerks would point out a particular case and predict that this one would be accepted and that the previous court decision would be overturned. No one said that about Gideon's case.

Gideon is serving time for petty larceny for having apparently broken into the Bay Harbor Poolroom in Panama City, Florida. It's interesting to note that he hadn't been able to settle down to a lifestyle that included regular work but is willing to hand write a five-page document, submit his petition twice and wade through the legal jargon in an effort to meet the requirements of the Supreme Court. It will later be revealed that more than his incarceration hangs in the balance. Gideon is on the verge of losing custody of his own three children and his stepdaughter. He will write to the attorney assigned to handle the Supreme Court case that all he wants is to get out of jail so that he can arrange for his children.

The Supreme Court never gets to decide an issue that isn't brought before the Justices. Those judges are not lawmakers in the sense that they have an idea and enact a law on that basis, but they do shape law in that their decisions are used to interpret laws in courts across the country.

One standard rule is that the person bringing the petition before the Supreme Court must have been hurt by the action. Put simply, someone else couldn't have the petition related to Gideon's case - only Gideon had been wronged so it was up to Gideon or his attorney to file the petition. Of course, Gideon didn't have an attorney.

It's important to note that a 1940s case, Betts vs. Brady, had established the rules for assigning an attorney to a defendant. It seems that the courts have been plagued with problems as they tried to apply the rules of Betts vs. Brady and that the Justices are therefore very familiar with the question of when a defendant is entitled to counsel. It's in this situation that Gideon brings his petition before the court, meaning the timing is right, the issue is broader than just the case of Gideon himself and that Gideon has been wronged by the lower court's action. These are all things that will likely make the Justices take a closer look at the petition.