Gideon v Wainwright: 50 Years Ago Today

50 YEARS AGO TODAY While the fight to ensure to access to justice to all continues, a major victory in that fight came 50 years ago today when the Supreme Court held that a criminal defendant was entitled to have counsel appointed if he could not afford one.  The decision was dramatized in the movie…

SPECIAL CLBR: CONGRESSWOMAN ELEANOR HOLMES-NORTON ON A CAPITOL OFFENSE

SPECIAL CLBR:  CONGRESSWOMAN* ELEANOR HOLMES-NORTON (D-DC) ON THE 212TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF WASHINGTON RESIDENTS On this day in 1801, President John Adams signed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 that placed the District of Columbia under the jurisdiction of Congress.  At that time, ,Washington, D.C. was a city of 3,200 people, but…