Monday is the 50th anniversary of a Supreme Court decision that changed America the case was Gideon versus Wayne Wright and the result was something Americans now take for granted the right to be represented by an attorney when accused of a crime even when you can't afford to pay for a lawyer CBS reports Gideon's trumpet the poor man and the law in June 1961 Clarence Gideon was arrested for allegedly stealing from a pool hall he couldn't afford an attorney and none was provided for him under Florida law Council was only provided in capital cases Gideon was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in prison he claimed in a handwritten letter to the United States Supreme Court that the conviction was unconstitutional the highest court agreed to hear the case they pointed me a attorney Mr a vs foris foris of a Washington DC had you ever heard of him Clarence no I never heard of him but a few people in there had heard of him Abe fores was a Washington Power Player and later a Supreme Court Justice I felt that uh the time had arrived when the court with a proper case before it would lay down the general rule that every man the poor is as well as the rich was entitled to the benefit of Council on March 18th 1963 the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the constitution requires states to provide attorneys to defendants who can't afford them the Gideon case is a great milestone it solved a basic problem following the decision Gideon was given a new trial with an appointed attorney he was acquitted of the charges Bruce Jacob Assistant Attorney General for the state of Florida argued against Gideon in the Supreme Court case our system hasn't performed as well as it should in fulfilling the promise of of Gideon we're better off today than we were back in 1962 but certainly the courts and legislators have not gone as far as they should in implementing the provisions of the Gideon ruling and joining us now is Norman dorson who was president of the American civil liberties Union for 15 years he wrote briefs for many Supreme Court cases including getting versus Wayne Wright Row versus Wade and the Pentagon papers case he is the Stokes professor of law at New York University and counselor to the president of NYU and he joins us now good morning nice to have you with us great pleasure it's been uh 50 years since you wrote this brief did you anticipate it would turn out the way it has no I thought we would win the case because the Supreme Court wouldn't have taken the case up unless it was going to hold that there was a right to council and the case was a cause for celebration just cause but what's happened since has been enormously disappointing that in fact the promise of Gideon has not been fulfilled how not what happened they didn't provide enough money enough lawyers to give people who were convicted or charged with crimes the assistance they needed very few of them get full investigations very few of them have lawyers who have the time to do the work the lawyers themselves want to do the work but unfortunately they have to be paid and unfortunately in many states maybe almost all states there's just not enough funding to do the job which is yeah go ahead I was going to say which is a common refrain among many public services at this moment in time where you have budget battles taking place at both the state and the federal level absolutely and of course the claims of people accused of crime are not very popular politically right and therefore they're not first in line but it's estimated that that between 80 and 90% of all persons charged with criminal offenses qualify for Indigent defense which means most people can't afford it that's right that's right is there anything we could do to change that do you think uh appropriate more money and uh that's very unlikely at this time and uh it's a sad story one of my colleagues who's worked in this area more recently than I said it's a travesty Gideon was wonderful it really set sent the message that the United States is going to treat people who are poor and vulnerable in a kindly and legitimate way but it hasn't worked out that way you've made the case for many things through throughout your career what is the case today to be made for funding on behalf of public defenders and the public defense system so that people are entitled to a fair trial the case has to be that this is a fundamental constitutional right that it's therefore just and that even though the people who will be the recipients are politically unpopular and vulnerable the conscience of the country should lead to more funding but that's the kind of claim that doesn't succeed very often and it's uh not uh uh viable I think in a in a world where we need money for health where we need money for welfare payments where we need money for defense right it's a it's a world that's uh difficult do you think anybody anticipated this problem 50 years ago when you filed that brief on I would say in part we knew that there'd be a financial issue and we put in our brief ways of fulfilling the financial things like legal aid or public defenders or paying private lawyers and we suggested ways of doing that but uh unfortunately uh the reality did not meet the need the promise has yet to be fulfilled that's correct Norman dorson thanks for joining us