Supreme Court Case Study

That the Supreme Court exercises a policy making role has been an established fact ever since Maybury vs. Madison defined the Court’s role in judicial review of existing law. By choosing which cases to review and by establishing precedents by way interpretation of a law’s meaning and applicability the Court influences the course of action adopted not only by government but by individuals and businesses who consider the implications of the Court’s actions. In adjudicating disagreements of alternative interpretations of a law the Supreme Court establishes policies which have implications extending beyond the specific case in question and into social policy at large. In choosing which cases to review the Court calls attention to certain issues
Gideon asked the Court to uphold his right to appointed counsel during a trial. The Court had made a prior decision on this very question in the case of Betts v. Brady twenty years earlier. The Court determined that refusal to appoint counsel to a destitute defendant on a felony charge in state court did not inevitably violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. In Clarence Gideon’s original Panama City, Florida trial Judge McCrary, Jr. denied Gideon’s request for representation using Betts as
It is a policy that is crucial to the continuity and uniformity of judicial interpretation of law providing a degree of certainty that like cases will be similarly treated. It allows every individual to be reasonably sure that they will be judged in a fair and consist manner. It speaks to the fundamental philosophy of equality under the law which is one of the founding pillars of the Founder’s vision. Despite having been refined over the twenty years prior to Gideon’s appeal the Betts decision continued to be one of debate and dispute, one the Supreme Court in 1963 thought worthy of review.
As the Court restricts the cases it reviews to appeals of a previous decision generally no witnesses are called nor is new evidence presented. Written arguments are submitted for review along with relevant amicus curiae briefs from outside interest groups. Timed oral arguments are then presented to the Court by each party subject to questions by the Justices. The decision of the Court is determined by majority vote and the opinion of the Court along with dissenting and concurring opinions made public by publication in the United States Supreme Court