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Gideons Trumpet Chapters 6-10

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Gideons Trumpet Chapters 6-10
Gideon’s Trumpet Reading Analysis Chapters 6-10

As we continue through Gideon’s Trumpet, Anthony Lewis continues to explain the complicated process that the Supreme Court takes in hearing a case. There are many instances in which Lewis shows how he is in favor of thick, procedural democracy. Lewis emphasizes the process of judicial review; the prejudice is the court system, the history of ones right to counsel, and how the court was changing at the time. Through these examples, Lewis shows how the Supreme Court is not a perfectly unbiased system; it is quite adequate in its process. However, as this book relates to American Creation, the time and place of the novel played a pivotal role in fate of Clarence Earl Gideon. Throughout this section of Gideon’s Trumpet, Lewis shows that the case of Gideon v. Cochran and later Gideon v. Wainwright was not as important as the time at which the case occurred. When looking at the overview of the Gideon’s Trumpet movie, it may come across as the Supreme Court helping a man who could not adequately defend himself. However, many of the people involved in the process of getting Gideon’s case to the Supreme Court focus on their own personal agenda. Although none of their motives were corrupt, there were many instances of people looking out for only themselves, a use of classic liberalism. Obviously Clarence Earl Gideon had a reason to appeal to the Supreme Court, because regardless of either innocent or guilty, he believed he was denied his basic right to counsel. As shown in the Gideon’s Trumpet movie, while in prison Gideon kept to himself and with the exception of the one man who had been in prison for 20 years, Gideon did not want to help any of the other inmates. The lawyer assigned to his case was looking to make history by having his case heard by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Justices were looking for a case to overturn Betts v Brady, and Gideon just happen to be the case that was used. Through this use of

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