[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 108 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 108

    Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the landmark case Gideon v. 
   Wainwright, in which the Supreme Court held that counsel must be 
          provided to indigent defendants in all felony cases.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 12, 2013

 Mr. Deutch (for himself, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Conyers, and Mr. 
  Watt) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the landmark case Gideon v. 
   Wainwright, in which the Supreme Court held that counsel must be 
          provided to indigent defendants in all felony cases.

Whereas, on March 18, 1963, the Supreme Court recognized in Gideon v. Wainwright 
        that counsel must be provided to indigent defendants in all felony 
        cases;
Whereas the Supreme Court held that providing counsel to indigent defendants in 
        all felony cases meets the essential requirements of the 6th amendment 
        to the United States Constitution;
Whereas the Supreme Court held in Argersinger v. Hamlin that indigent defendants 
        are entitled, under the 6th amendment to the United States Constitution, 
        to court-appointed counsel in all cases where imprisonment is a 
        possibility;
Whereas 50 years after the Gideon v. Wainwright decision, excessive caseloads 
        are preventing counsel for indigent defendants from providing quality 
        representation; and
Whereas the provision of counsel to indigent defendants often lacks fairness and 
        increases the risk that poor people will be wrongfully convicted: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes and honors the 50th anniversary of the 
        decision in Gideon v. Wainwright;
            (2) encourages all people in the United States to recognize 
        and honor the 50th anniversary of the Gideon v. Wainwright 
        decision; and
            (3) supports strategies to improve the criminal justice 
        system to ensure that indigent defendants in all felony cases 
        are adequately represented by counsel.
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