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Everyone’s Mother-In-Law
By Cindene Pezzell, Esq. Director, The National Defense Center for Criminalized Survivors
This is the time of year that the justice community celebrates Clarence Earl Gideon. On March 18, 1963, his landmark case before the United States Supreme Court enshrined the Constitutional right to counsel for indigent people charged with crimes. The mandate that states fund representation for defendants who could not afford to hire lawyers transformed the landscape of criminal court in America. Because of Gideon, the legal playing field became a little bit more equal. This important date is honored as Gideon Day, Public Defense Day, Defender Day, National Public Defense Day, and Public Defender Appreciation Day. But Clarence Gideon did not forge this path alone.
70 years before Gideon v Wainwright, there was Clara Shortridge Foltz.
In 1864, Clarissa Shortridge married her Civil War veteran husband Jeremiah Foltz. She was 15 years old. They had five children in 12 years. When Jeremiah walked out on Clara and their children for another woman, Clara quickly learned to hustle. But the gigs she could scrounge up, such as sewing and letting rooms, weren’t cutting it. So, Clara began taking public speaking engagements, lecturing about suffrage.
She also studied law. Clara DIY’d her legal education, start to finish. But she could not practice law without passing the California bar examination, a privilege that was only available to “white men.”
Clara wrote the Woman Lawyer’s Bill, replacing the phrase “white male” with the term “any citizen or person” in the law governing California bar examination eligibility. After a lot of lobbying, she managed to overcome fierce opposition from lawmakers concerned that women would use their feminine charms to sway jurors, and the bill passed in the 1878 California legislature with a 2-vote margin. Clara was admitted to the bar that same year, becoming the first woman attorney in California.
Clara then practiced law for over 50 years, using her degree to take on systemic issues including suffrage and access to justice for all.
Clara did a LOT; she maintained a private practice, kept up her speaking engagements, founded a woman lawyer mentorship program, and much more.
But today we’re honoring her for pioneering the idea of public defense, and leading the effort that would establish the nation’s first public defender office in the United States in 1913.
Clara’s groundbreaking ideas were presented to the world in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. She used this presentation to detail the concept that she’d soon develop into a model public defense statute. This “Foltz Defender Bill” was adopted in 1921, allowing other counties in California to establish their own public defender offices.
Despite Clara’s successful removal of “white male” from the law governing who could practice law in CA, it would be another 9 years before a Black man, R.C.O. Benjamin, would be admitted to the bar, and 50 years before Annie Virginia Stephens Coker would become the first Black woman lawyer in California.
The current state of public defense is over 100 years in the making. While Clarence Earl Gideon secured the federal mandate of state-funded representation for indigent defendants in 1963, Clara Shortridge Foltz drafted the blueprint 70 years earlier. Foltz ensured that “justice for all” would finally include those without the means to pay. Modern public defense represents the evolving representation of her pioneering vision.
The current state of public defense is over 100 years in the making. While Clarence Earl Gideon secured the federal mandate in 1963, Clara Shortridge Foltz drafted the blueprint 70 years earlier. Foltz ensured that "justice for all" would finally include those without the means to pay. Modern public defense represents the realization of her revolutionary vision.
Sources:
Babcock, B. (2011). Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz. Stanford University Press.
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).
California State Archives: "The Foltz Defender Bill" (1921)
Los Angeles County Public Defender Office. "Our History."
California Board of Governors. (2001). "Diversity in the Bar: A Historical Timeline."
