50 years ago Gideon gave poor people legal counsel but now some states follow the letter, not the spirit, of the law.


Karen Houppert is the author of Chasing Gideon: The Elusive Quest for Poor People's Justice (New Press). She is a journalist on the faculty of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and reports on indigent defence for The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.
50 years ago Gideon gave poor people legal counsel but now some states follow the letter, not the spirit, of the law.
