Summary: Today marks the golden anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Gideon v Wainwright, that affirmed the Sixth Amendment right of all criminal defendants, including the indigent, to counsel. A look back at Gideon and the defense of the poor, plus the effort to provide “civil Gideon” for those who cannot afford a lawyer. Our guests: Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights; Michael Millemann, professor of public interest law at the University of Maryland; Charles “Chip” Dorsey III, deputy public defender for Maryland; Nancy Forster, attorney and former Maryland public defender; and Debra Gardner, legal director of the Public Justice Center in Baltimore.
