What Amendment was addressed in Gideon v. Wainwright and why?

Answer 1

Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963)

Gideon v. Wainwright is a landmark US Supreme Court case that incorporated the Sixth Amendment right to counsel in criminal proceedings to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. In this case, the Court ruled emphatically that indigent defendants were entitled to court-appointed lawyers at critical stages of prosecution, including arraignment and trial.

An earlier case, Powell v. Alabama, 287 US 45 (1932) had already extended that right to state defendants in capital (death penalty) cases, but the Supreme Court later allowed the states to exercise case-by-case discretion with regard to providing attorneys for other serious criminal offenses in Betts v. Brady, 316 US 455 (1942).

The reason the Supreme Court addressed this Sixth Amendment issue is that, prior to the ruling in Gideon, indigent defendants had to represent themselves in most criminal cases. This put them at an unfair disadvantage because, unlike the government prosecutor, most defendants possessed no legal training (some were even illiterate) and couldn't receive a fair trial under those circumstances.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

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