Chapters 6 and 7 Summary and Analysis

The Supreme Court is bound not so much by laws as by the trends and ideals of the Justices who serve. As a general rule, the Justices' decisions follow their own ideas of what's most important in the judicial system. Among the more important concepts is the determination of federalism - state's rights versus those of the Federal Government. As Gideon's appeal is being prepared by his attorney, Fortas considers that there's been a recent history of the Justices declining to approve petitions that would be applied across the board to all states. There have been some exceptions though there are strong emotions attached to the rights of states to run their own criminal proceedings. If Gideon's appeal is approved, all state courts will be impacted.

Gideon says he would have left Panama City, Florida, had he ever had...