OPINION: I agree with the court’s decision. Gideon poorly represented himself, and he could have received a sentence he truly deserved. The Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a right to the assistance of counsel rightfully applied to Gideon’s case.

The decision had large impact on the criminal justice system, requiring state courts follow the "right to counsel" right as guaranteed in the Sixth Amendment.

Clarence Gideon was charged in Florida state court with felony breaking and entering. He requested that the court appoint him a lawyer when appearing in court without one.

According to state law and attorney may only be appointed to an indigent defendant in capital cases (such as the death penalty) and the trial court did not appoint one. Gideon represented himself in trial and was found guilty, sentenced 5 years to prison.

Gideon filed a habeas corpus to Florida Supreme Court, challenging his conviction and sentence on the ground that the refusal to appoint counsel violated his constitutional rights. When the Florida Supreme Court denied it he filed a handwritten petition in the US Supreme Court.

In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Hugo L. Black, the court held that it was consistent with the Constitution to require state courts to appoint attorneys for defendants who could not afford to retain counsel on their own.

The Court reasoned the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of counsel is a fundamental and essential right made obligatory upon the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.