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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why was Gideon in the hospital during this time?
(a) He had pneumonia.
(b) He had A-typical tuberculosis.
(c) He had gallbladder surgery.
(d) He was in a car accident.

2. What is the question the Justices say is before them when deciding to hear Gideon's case?
(a) How many more men like Clarence Earl Gideon are sitting in America's prisons?
(b) Should this Court's holding in Betts vs. Brady, 316 U.S. 455, be reconsiderd?
(c) Why should the U.S. Supreme Court have to get involved with a petty larceny case?
(d) Are we not bound to provide legal justice for all men in this country?

3. Henry Cook states that at the poolroom, the front was off the cigarette machine and ___________________.
(a) The moneybox was empty.
(b) The door lock was cut with bolt cutters.
(c) All the chairs and tables were tipped over.
(d) There were gunshots in the walls.

4. What would a lawyer have followed up on regarding Henry Cook's testimony but Gideon didn't know to do?
(a) Why Cook was on the street at that time of the morning.
(b) If Cook had a job.
(c) If Cook had an arrest record.
(d) If Cook had a grudge against Gideon.

5. What legislation gives the Supreme Court Justices the freedom to decide which cases they will hear?
(a) The NAACP Bill.
(b) The Judge's Bill of 1925.
(c) The NATO Treaty.
(d) The Fourteenth Amendment.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Gideon send money to his parents when he is in jail in the mid-1930s?

2. Gideon says that prisoners have ___________ contact with attorneys?

3. Abe Fortas knows little of Gideon's first trial and little of _____________________.

4. What payment does an attorney representing a client in a Supreme Court case receive?

5. Which of the following is NOT an area in which Abe Fortas is familiar?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Fortas learn more about Gideon during the months after he is appointed to represent him?

2. What is Gideon's mood as he heads into his Supreme Court trial?

3. Why is it relevant that Fortas wants to know if Gideon is a Negro?

4. What role has Gideon assumed while in prison regarding helping some of the other inmates?

5. How does Fortas get the information he needs about Gideon's previous trial?

6. What is the nature of Gideon's petition to the Supreme Court?

7. What is the premise of GIDEON'S TRUMPET?

8. What kind of power do the Supreme Court Justices have and how do some of them feel about it?

9. What does Fortas discover in Gideon's file regarding how he questioned witnesses and how an attorney would have been better able to manage?

10. What incriminating testimony had been provided by the prosecution's witness, Henry Cook, during Gideon's criminal trial?

(see the answer keys)

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