Sixty years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright. The court held that states must abide by the Sixth Amendment and that those whose liberty is threatened ...

Kansas Public Defense Day honors the right to counsel. A new report urges investment in youth defense for all children.

San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju was held in contempt for refusing to accept more cases due to excessive workloads, ...

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 ...

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors has proclaimed March 18, 2026 as Public Defense Day and is urging the state to provide ...

State capitals from Honolulu to Augusta, Maine, heard Gideon’s trumpet when the U.S. Supreme Court sounded it in 1963. But Harrisburg has remained deaf for 60 years to the clarion call to provide ...

He provided the research and drafts that helped bring about the Supreme Court’s landmark Gideon v. Wainwright decision in 1963. By Clay Risen Abe Krash, who as a junior partner at the law firm Arnold, ...

OPINION: The decision by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to prosecute hundreds of low-level cases has crippled ...

Any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him. —Gideon v. Wainwright With that landmark opinion, the U.S. Supreme ...