The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Gideon vs. Wainwright case that criminal defense was a constitutional right and that clients were entitled to counsel at government expense. The Criminal Appeals Bureau made its debut before the High Court in the landmark case of Fay v. Noia, in which the Court greatly eased the ability of State criminal defendants to obtain review, by writ of habeas corpus in the Federal Court, of Constitutional deprivations in their State trial.