I was suprised to learn that State Courts actually denied people the right to counsel because it was never a right specified in state law even though it is stated in the Bill of Rights. I also found it surprising how Clarence knew he was being denied this right and that he even brought it up in court in front of the judge. Even though he did end up going to jail, I found it really cool how he still petitioned to the Supreme Court through a handwritten letter on jail stationary.
This reminded me a lot of the Civil Rights movement in our country. The video mentioned that lawyers like to set the precedence for future cases and this reminded me of segregation, and how state laws allowed for it even though they denied African Americans their basic rights. It wasn't until Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in schools was banned--setting precedence for all other segregation in the country.
Did Gideon send his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court right away? No. Gideon filed a petition to the Florida Supreme Court first, claiming that he was unconstitutionally convicted because he was not provided a defense attorney at trial. However, it wasn't until the Florida Supreme Court denied his petition that Gideon appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
