Court Case Why Did the Term Paper

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Whether a man is innocent cannot be determined from a trial in which, as here, denial of counsel has made it impossible to conclude, with any satisfactory degree of certainty, that the defendant's case was adequately presented.

Quote from Justice Black's dissenting opinion, Betts v Brady, 1942-- from Find Law)

Many in the judicial circles regarded the Betts decision of the Supreme Court as "an anachronism" and a departure from the spirit of most of the Court's preceding decisions in similar cases, which ought to be struck down. Justice Black was also now a part of the famous "Warren Court," led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, which was known for expanding civil rights, ending segregation and protecting the fundamental rights of all the citizens of United States, and never missed an opportunity to incorporate the Bill of Rights in State laws. Moreover, the American public opinion had also turned in favor of the poor and other marginalized sections of the society in the 1960s and the circumstances were ripe for over-ruling Betts v. Brady. Most of all, although stare decisis is the usual principle behind most court decisions, in cases involving the Federal Constitution, where correction through legislative action is not feasible, the U.S. Supreme Court is not averse to overruling its earlier decisions by bowing to "the lessons of experience and the force of better reasoning" (Lewis, quoted in "The Evolution of a Decision.
..," 1963 -- Landmark Decisions).

Hence, in a unanimous decision in Gideon, penned by Justice Hugo Black, the Court overturned its ruling in Betts v. Brady and declared the right of an indigent defendant to have the assistance of counsel in a criminal trial as "a fundamental right essential to a fair trial."

References

Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455, (1942)." Find Law for Legal Professionals. Retrieved on July 11, 2007 at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=316&invol=455

The Evolution of a Decision: Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)." Landmark Cases: Supreme Court. Retrieved on July 11, 2007 at http://www.landmarkcases.org/gideon/decision.html

Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, (1963)." Find Law for Legal Professionals. Retrieved on July 11, 2007 at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=U.S.&vol=372&invol=335

This practice is called stare decisis, which is the Latin term for "to stand by what has been decided."

Such as Powell v. Alabama (1932) and Johnson v. Zerbst (1938).

Court Cases.....

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