Campaign Funds for Judges Warp Criminal Justice, Study Finds

WASHINGTON — Nearly 60 years ago, the Supreme Court decided the case of Clarence Gideon, a Florida drifter accused of breaking into a poolroom who was tried and convicted without a lawyer. In a unanimous ruling, Gideon v. Wainwright, the court transformed criminal justice in America, announcing that poor people accused of serious crimes were entitled to lawyers paid for by the government.

But the court did not say how the lawyers should be chosen, and many states settled on a system that invites abuses: They let the judge appoint...