<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> U.S. Const . amends . VI, XIV </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Betts v. Brady (1942) </Td> </Tr> <P> Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history . In it, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states are required under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases to represent defendants who are unable to afford to pay their own attorneys . The case extended the right to counsel, which had been found under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to impose requirements on the federal government, by ruling that this right imposed those requirements upon the states as well . </P>

In this case the supreme court required criminal