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The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, struggled mightily with the question of whether Burdine’s right to counsel was violated when his lawyer, Cannon, whose entire file was less than three pages of notes, slept during parts of the two-day trial in which Burdine was convicted and condemned to death. A panel of the Court upheld Burdine’s conviction and death sentence, as had the Texas courts. In argument before the full Court, judges asked whether Cannon slept through any important parts of the trial. Of course, there was no way to know because the lawyer, who should have been making the record, was asleep. The Solicitor General of Texas argued that Burdine’s was no different from cases in which lawyers were found effective even though they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs or suffering from Alzheimer’s.