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Right to counsel in Texas preceded Gideon by a century

Next Monday, March 18, at the Texas capitol there will be an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, which enshrined the right to legal counsel as a fundamental constitutional right, and on Sunday the New York Times had a story titled, "The Right to Counsel: Badly Battered at 50."

Notably, though, this may be the 50th anniversary of Gideon but not of the "right to counsel," at least in Texas. According to a newly published history (p. 65) Grits is presently reading, the Texas Supreme Court in Calvin v. State (1860) ruled that "the state had a duty to provide counsel for blacks who could not afford their own - a progressive notion that would not be enshrined in federal jurisprudence until more than a century later."

Who'da thought?
Next Monday, March 18, at the Texas capitol there will be an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, which enshrined the right to legal counsel as a fundamental constitutional right, and on Sunday the New York Times had a story titled, "The Right to Counsel: Badly Battered at 50."

Notably, though, this may be the 50th anniversary of Gideon but not of the "right to counsel," at least in Texas. According to a newly published history (p. 65) Grits is presently reading, the Texas Supreme Court in Calvin v. State (1860) ruled that "the state had a duty to provide counsel for blacks who could not afford their own - a progressive notion that would not be enshrined in federal jurisprudence until more than a century later."

Who'da thought?

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