blog post 2

 

Supreme Court Justices

    The most interesting fact that I took away from reading and watching about the Supreme Court Justice was that  in 1963, the Supreme Court found that defendants who cannot afford legal representation must be provided it without charge (Gideon v. Wainwright). It never occurred to me that this was a civil right that had to be fought for.  I guess I always assumed that it was part of the law or in the Constitution.  It makes sense if you think about it, that the court would have to provide you a a legal representative if you couldn't afford one.  If you were involved in a serious matter you would not be able to represent yourself properly.  The average person doesn't know all the ins and outs of the legal system.  How did people defended themselves before this law came to be, how many were imprisoned, fined, or punished because they couldn't afford to defend themselves. How many of them would have not been imprisoned, fined, or punished if they were able to afford counsel. So only the wealthy people didn't t get fined, punished, or imprisoned for their crimes prior to 1963 because they could afford counsel?   I cannot imagine what took so long for this to come before the Supreme Court, 1963 does not seem so long ago. It also makes me think of the future.  In 50 or so years what cases will be brought before the Supreme Court that seem ok in our society today, but in 50 years will be wrong.