Top of the Decade

> In Baker v. Carr, the Supreme Court paves the way for reapportionment of electoral districts across the nation, 1962. > In Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court guarantees indigents a lawyer for trials involving serious crimes, 1963.

> Martin Luther King's jailing in Birmingham, Ala., which gave new respectability to the strategy of disobedience to unjust laws, 1963.

> The civil rights acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968, the most important legislative attacks on racial inequality since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.

> In Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court spells out the rights of criminal suspects in police custody, 1966.

> Florida's stay of execution for inmates on death row begins a t w o-year moratorium on capital punishment in the U.S., 1967.

> The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, Congress' tough response to popular demands for stronger action against crime, 1968.

> Abe Fortas' resignation from the Supreme Court stirs a national debate over judicial ethics, 1969.

> Warren Burger's installation as Chief Justice, 1969.

> The opening of the trial of the Chicago Eight, a courtroom extravaganza that may shrink the limits of political dissent, 1969.

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