Earl Warren's Effective Leadership

Earl Warren was born on March 19, 1891, in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in financially conservative family, Warren was taught the importance of a good work ethic and education. In his pursuit to attend college, he spent most summers working for the Southern Pacific Railroad; where his father worked. It was working for the railway that would begin to influence Warren’s career. During his time at the company, Warren learned first hand about monopolistic power, corruption, and political dominance (Oyez, n.d.). He attended college at the University of California Berkley where he earned both his undergraduate degree and law degree. After graduating, he worked for numerous law firms in the San Francisco area until 1920 when he took

During his time as Attorney General, Warren began to take shape as a prominent public figure by spearheading issues such as prostitution, gambling, bootlegging and prohibition (Oyez, 2006). After establishing himself as a public figure, he ran for governor in 1942 and won. As governor, Warren appeared to have all the qualities of a conservative; however, as time progressed, he began to take on more liberal issues. Then, on October 4, 1953, President Eisenhower appointed Warren as the new Chief Justice. Warren was appointed as Chief Justice during a time when the court was sorely divided since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Cray, 1997). However, Warren was an exceptional leader and shortly after being appointed as Chief Justice; he was able to bring what was once a divided court together. Throughout his career as Chief Justice, he had many landmark cases addressing civil right’s issues such as Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned the “separate but equal” ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson; however, some of the most noteworthy cases came in the form of changes in criminal procedures (Cray, 1997). More specifically, the cases of Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright, and

Wainwright, n.d.). Unable to afford an attorney, Gideon asked the court to appoint him one. However, during that time, under the laws of the state of Florida state, “the only time the court can appoint Counsel to represent a defendant is when that person is charged with a capital offense” (Hall, 2011, p. 76). Upon hearing this, Gideon argued that the right to counsel is guaranteed by the U.S. Supreme Court under the Sixth Amendment. Nevertheless, the court refused to appoint him a lawyer; was required to defend himself and was later found guilty of breaking and entering and petty larceny. In his prison cell, Gideon wrote a letter of petition to the U.S. Supreme court stating that his Sixth Amendment guarantee to counsel was violated. In the Supreme Courts examination, they assessed whether or not the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel in criminal cases extended to felony defendant in state courts (Oyez,