hey there and welcome back to heimlich's history in this video we're going to look at yet another one of your required supreme court cases for the ap government curriculum namely gideon versus wainwright in 1963. so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked with a court-appointed lawyer then let's get to it so as always let's begin with the facts of the case in 1961 clarence earl gideon broke into a pool hall in florida smashed up a cigarette machine to remove coins from it and stole some cash from the register he was summarily arrested and sent to trial now our boy gideon was no stranger to standing trial for crimes in other states he had done so on several occasions and because he was poor the courts appointed a lawyer to represent him at no charge however in florida the law said that the state will only appoint a lawyer to a defendant in capital cases and thus gideon was not entitled to representation appointed by the state so gideon acted as his own lawyer and wouldn't you know it he was convicted he appealed and eventually his case was brought before the supreme court so once it arrived at the court what was the constitutional principle at stake well this was a case based on the sixth amendment which says in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense now remember the sixth amendment as written only applies to the federal government so in this case a state government was denying gideon a lawyer to represent him and therefore technically speaking the sixth amendment was not being violated because he was not standing trial in a federal court however the 14th amendment equal protection clause applies the liberties contained in the bill of rights to the states and so that's what this case is about does the equal protection clause in the 14th amendment require states to appoint a lawyer to someone who cannot afford it but don't get confused here if you see a question about this case and it asks you about the constitutional principle at stake it's the sixth amendment the fourteenth amendment part is just asking you whether the sixth amendment can be applied to the state so let's see if it does by looking at the decision handed down by the court well the court ruled unanimously in gideon's favor arguing that yes the sixth amendment's provision for a lawyer does apply to the states via the 14th amendment's equal protection clause and in the unanimous opinion authored by justice hugo black the argument went like this the right of one charged with crime to counsel may not be deemed fundamental and essential to fair trials in some countries but it is in ours from the very beginning our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair trials before impartial tribunals in which every defendant stands equal before the law this noble ideal cannot be realized if the poor man charged with a crime has to face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him okay so let's finish by talking about why this case matters this case matters first of all because through it the sixth amendment was incorporated to the states remember the process of selective incorporation is how the court systematically applies the liberties and protections of the bill of rights to state governments second in the wake of this decision states were required to fund and train thousands of public defense lawyers who could be called upon to defend clients who are not able to afford their lawyers and that public defense system has continued to grow until today which means that if you break into a pool hall and smash up a cigarette machine you will certainly have someone to defend you but you know even better than that would be just don't do it you know stay in school you know that's it okay i hope that helped and if you want even more help then click right here and grab a few packet which is gonna help you get an a in your class and a five on your exam in may i've got videos on all the other required supreme court cases right here so click away if that's something that you're into subscribe if you want me to keep making these videos and you know me i shall oblige heimler out