Sixty-two years ago today, on March 18, 1963 (February 23, 1963 lunar calendar), the US court stipulated that the poor must have a lawyer to litigate. On March 18, 1963, the US Supreme Court held that states must provide free legal services to the poor who litigate. The case of Clarence Early Gideon raised this issue. He was charged with breaking into a warehouse in Florida and was thrown into prison. During his trial, he asked for a lawyer to defend himself, but the court refused. The Supreme Court's new rule, the most important of the sitting period, overturned a 1942 Supreme Court decision that the US Constitution allowed lawyers for defendants only if they were convicted of capital crimes or in exceptional circumstances, such as when the defendant was illiterate.