Every March 18, the legal community observes Gideon Day, marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright. The case is a civics textbook staple: Clarence Earl ...

Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with breaking into a pool hall. He could not afford a lawyer to defend him in court, and after a hasty trial, he was convicted. Had Gideon accepted his fate, he'd have ...

Monday, March 18, 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in the landmark case of Clarence Earl Gideon v. Louie L. Wainwright. Wainwright was the director of the ...

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Think of a hero and the Clarence Earl Gideon type probably doesn't come to mind. Not even in his own hometown. This same northeast Missouri community that spawned the great author ...

In 1963, a poor man in a Florida jail changed American justice with a pencil. Clarence Earl Gideon had no lawyer, no money, and no power — so he wrote to the Supreme Court by hand. The Court listened.

For Clarence Earl Gideon, who spent much of his early life homeless and his entire life in poverty, the criminal theft prosecution that made him a household name was just one of many legal challenges.