The Final Challenge: The Constitution
by The United States Constitution is the most confusing and intense piece of literature ever written. It can help people in their time of need yet at the same time let others down.
The constitution has many different amendments and those amendments have different sections. Each one has a different meaning, and each one can help people in other ways then the last. The main way that the constitution is put into use is in the law. In almost every court case the constitution and its amendments are put into use. In this paper I will discuss four of the most important court cases, at least in my opinion, and how the constitution was put into use in these cases.
The first court case is about a man named Clarence Earl Gideon, and it was called Gideon vs. Wainwright. The date was 1963; Gideon was a fifty-one-year-old man who was arrested in Florida for breaking into a pool hall. Since Gideon had no money to get a lawyer he asked the court to appoint him one. But at the time Florida only gave lawyers to people who are being accused of being mentally incompatible or insane, or are a capital offense case. When the courts denied Gideon his rights to counsel he tried to defended himself, the best that he could. However according to a case in 1942 known as Betts v. Brady in which the same thing happened as in the Gideon case. There are two amendments that help Gideon. The first one is the Fourteenth Amendment, which states the fundamental rights and the rights to a fair trial. The other one is the Sixth Amendment, and this amendment guarantees the right of counsel. Gideon lost his case, but it went to the Supreme Court and won the right to an attorney.
The next case is one of the most important cases every. It took place in March 1963 and involves a man named Ernest Miranda, and is called Miranda v. Arizona. The police arrested Miranda for the kidnapping and raping of a woman in Phoenix, Arizona. They took him to the head quarts and questioned him for two hours without a lawyer. Miranda finally signed a confession. So when the case went before the courts Mirandas lawyer said that the police violated his Fifth Amendment right. Which states that a person does not have to incriminate him or herself. So when the case went to court Mirandas lawyer got the only piece of evidence, and the confession got thrown out and Miranda was found innocent. Due to this case there is now a warning that police must read to suspects before they can ask them questions. This warning is called the Miranda Rights.
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