Criminal Justice: Where To After Gideon?

Like most Americans, Justice Potter Stewart heartily endorsed the Supreme Court's famous decision in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), which ordered all American courts to provide lawyers for indigent defendants—at least in the trial of felony cases. What now bothers Stewart is the court's refusal to answer an insistent question: Does Gideon's right to counsel also cover misdemeanors?

Twice this term, Stewart has publicly chided his brethren for passing up chances to tackle the misdemeanor issue. In October came the case of an indigent Little Rock, Ark., Negro busboy, who was found necking with...

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