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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What would happen to the appeals process if Gideon's appeal is approved?

3. What is Gideon's state of mind as he prepares to go to trial at the Supreme Court?

4. At what type of work does Gideon say he could make a living?

5. Abe Fortas learns that the ______________________ of Gideon's first trial was/were not recorded.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Gideon's life like after he marries in 1955?

2. What is the seeming difference between how the Supreme Court views indigence and how Gideon was treated in the lower court?

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

4. What issue has been on the minds of the Justices lately that gives Gideon's petition some extra attention?

5. What is meant by federalism and how could Gideon's Supreme Court case impact it?

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

7. Do the Supreme Court Justices get to decide which cases they will hear?

8. For what crime is Gideon serving time in a Florida prison?

9. What major inadequacies does Fortas discover in the transcripts of Gideon's criminal trial?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the irony of Gideon's not being able to ever hold a job very long in his life yet having the tenacity to hand write pages and pages of his petition to the Supreme Court. What gave Gideon his inspiration to keep pushing forward? How would Gideon's life have been different if he had applied this same tenacity to making a decent living and caring for his family? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Create a brief character study of Gideon. What does he look like? What are his positive personality traits? What are some of his negative characteristics? What are his hopes and fears? What is his primary motivation?

Essay Topic 3

With what crime had Clarence Earl Gideon been charged? What prevented his being appointed an attorney? Wouldn't Gideon have qualified under the "special circumstances" clause? Explain.

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