Summary Of Gideon's Trumpet By Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis’ narrative in Gideon’s Trumpet has served as one of the most important law related occurrences. The nonfiction book is written in the third person perspective in order to provide a detailed and thorough overview of the law practices during the time of the case. The book specially focuses on the Supreme Court’s thought of governing leading up to the case, Gideon vs Wainwright, as well as the case itself. The case involves Clarence Gideon’s fight for his right to have an attorney in order to defend him in court. This written recollection has given an overlying theme to the entire book: the right to justice. In Gideon’s Trumpet by Anthony Lewis, Clarence Earl Gideon is a poor fifty-one year old man who was imprisoned in the 1960s

Gideon was undoubtedly found guilty of the crime and was sent to prison. While he sat in a Florida prison, Gideon felt that his constitutional right to have an attorney was not granted. Thus, Gideon formulated an appeal to the Supreme Court handwritten on prison paper. The Supreme Court accepted his documents and decided to hear his case. Prior to Gideon vs Wainwright, Betts vs Brady was the case doctrine that was followed. Betts vs Brady stated that the states had their own right to determine whether the person on trial deserved to have legal representation or not. Courts, during the period of Betts vs Brady, only appointed free attorneys under the terms of “special cases”. After being granted a new trial, Gideon chose a local lawyer to represent him and, within an hour, the jury found him “not guilty” of his crime. The ruling of this case went on to overturn the Betts vs Brady outline for an

The written story of how Clarence Earl Gideon, a poor Florida man, went from a convicted criminal to ultimately redefining legal history is astounding. The Supreme Court commonly dismisses more cases than it accepts and the fact that a handwritten petition from a prison inmate was accepted shows that even the seemingly most insignificant person can make a difference in our society. The book’s literature is highly legalistic but constantly provides a detailed account of how the judicial system is constructed. Coming from a regular college student standpoint with no previous formal law education, this makes the underlying concept easier to grasp. The story’s setting during the time of the Gideon case, showed how the legal system was constructed towards the growing concept of a defendant’s rights. The structure of the book has placed it at the top of the reading list for aspiring law students. It effectively maps out the Supreme Court’s ruling history and also the crucial turning point of progressing American civil liberties. Robert F. Kennedy commented on Gideon’s perseverance stating, “If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in prison with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court; and if the Supreme Court had not taken the trouble to look at the merits in that one crude petition among all the bundles of mail it must receive every day, the vast machinery of