"Public Defenders Are Tightening Belts Because of Steep Federal Budget Cuts," is by Ron Nixon in the New York Times.
Faced with steep cuts to their budgets, federal public defenders around the country have furloughed or laid off hundreds of lawyers and other staff members, spent less on expert witnesses and cut back on case-related travel.The cuts for the 2014 fiscal year will most likely result in staff reductions of 30 percent to 50 percent, they said. And some public defenders are even considering closing their offices because of a lack of money.
The result, said lawmakers, judges and public defenders, are court delays that might violate defendants’ rights to speedy trials and could lead to the dismissal of criminal cases.
Largely out of the public view, defenders and judges say, the federal public defenders system is buckling under the effects of the $85 billion across-the-board cuts known as the sequester, threatening the integrity of the criminal justice system, which guarantees the right to a court-appointed lawyer for those who cannot afford one. The system was established in 1970 to provided legal representation to indigent defendants; today about 90 percent of federal defendants qualify for court appointed lawyers.
The 81 defender offices across the country, which represent 60 percent of all criminal defendants in the federal court system, have already had their budgets cut by 10 percent because of the sequester and other reductions this year and could face up to a 23 percent cut in 2014. Additional cost-cutting measures may result in a smaller cut, around 10 percent. Although the cuts are widespread across the government, public defenders say the reductions are hitting them particularly hard. Unlike other federal programs, the public defenders say, they have little fat to trim since most of their costs are for staff and rent. Just 10 percent of their budgets are devoted to expert witnesses, investigative costs and travel.
Already, federal defenders said they have cut back on staff members and their workloads.
The Atlantic posts analysis by Andrew Cohen, "How Eric Holder Can Help Public Defenders and Their Clients." As is generally the case with Cohen's writings, it's a must-read.
For the past few months The Atlantic has been covering the sequester's growing impact on the ability of the federal judiciary to administer justice in a timely, fair and efficient manner without the money it needs. Judges and court administrators have been warning all along that litigants -- the American people -- would begin to feel more of the effects of the budget cuts as 2013 proceeded without a resolution of the sequester fight between Congress and the White House. It's now happening. Fewer courtroom hours. Longer waits for trials and rulings. Layoffs to courthouse personnel and public defenders. And it's going to get worse in 2014.
All of which is why Attorney General Eric Holder was right to write an op-ed Thursday in The Washington Post about the need for Congress to restore funding for federal public defenders who have been hammered by the sequester.
And:
A Congress that tripped all over itself earlier this year to ensure that there would be no flight delays because of the sequester has been remarkably content to run our judiciary into the ground-- and to then hide from the blame that comes with refusing to adequately fund the third branch of government. "When cases lag," the judges told Vice President Biden last week, "the Judiciary is seen as inefficient, or worse, unsympathetic to litigants ranging from pro-se litigants (who represent themselves) to individuals and companies seeking bankruptcy relief or the resolution of civil disputes to the government and defendants in criminal cases."
Eric Holder, the wizened Washington insider, understands all this. He understands that part of this budget fight is ideological as well-- that many Republicans in Congress see political value in reducing the federal judiciary's power in any event. Which is why he should be raising the stakes instead of writing articles. Knowing the judiciary is behind him, and on behalf of litigants everywhere, the attorney general ought to slow down the federal criminal justice system-- a "solidarity strike," you could call it-- until Congress restores funding for all of the constitutional functions that system requires.
Earlier coverage of the federal budget sequester begins with Holder's OpEd at the link.
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