Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright. Anthony Lewis' classic book, Gideon's Trumpet, has been educating readers about the case, the ruling, and criminal indigent justice since it was published in 1964. It has remained continuously in print.
Today's New York Time publishes the obituary, "Anthony Lewis, Supreme Court Reporter Who Brought Law to Life, Dies at 85." It's written by Adam Liptak, the paper's current Supreme Court reporter.
Anthony Lewis, a former New York Times reporter and columnist whose work won two Pulitzer Prizes and transformed American legal journalism, died on Monday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 85.
The cause was complications of renal and heart failure, said his wife, Margaret H. Marshall, a retired chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Mr. Lewis brought passionate engagement to his two great themes: justice and the role of the press in a democracy. His column, called “At Home Abroad” or “Abroad at Home” depending on where he was writing from, appeared on the Op-Ed page of The Times for more than 30 years, until 2001. His voice was liberal, learned, conversational and direct.
As a reporter, Mr. Lewis brought an entirely new approach to coverage of the Supreme Court, for which he won his second Pulitzer, in 1963.
“He brought context to the law,” said Ronald K. L. Collins, a scholar at the University of Washington who compiled a bibliography of Mr. Lewis’s work. “He had an incredible talent in making the law not only intelligible but also in making it compelling.”
Coverage of the 50th anniversary of Gideon begins at the link.
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