Published on: Tuesday, September 17, 2024

On Monday August 19, 2024, the Defender Services Office, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the Criminal Justice Act in Washington D.C. A video recording of the live event can be found here

The commemoration included welcome and introductory remarks from Elizabeth Brown Luck, Chief, Defender Services Office, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Judge Robert J. Conrad, Director, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, provided opening remarks for the celebration.

Judge Judith Levy of the U.S. District Court, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Attorney Jarrett Adams, Esq., of Jarrett Adams Law in Chicago, Illinois, also provided remarks on the importance of the Criminal Justice Act and the right to counsel pursuant to the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The commemoration concluded with a panel comprised of: moderator, Federal Public Defender for the District of Minnesota, Katherian Roe; the Honorable Edward Prado, U.S. Ambassador to Argentina and distinguished federal jurist in the U.S. Courts for approximately 35 years; and, Judge Kathleen Cardone, U.S. District Court, El Paso, Texas. The panel focused on two committee reports tasked with reviewing the Criminal Justice Act. The most recent report, the 2017 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Criminal Justice Act, also referred to as the “Cardone Report,” can be found here.

In addition to this commemoration, the U.S. Courts also published a judiciary news article: “Criminal Justice Act: Protecting the Right to Counsel for 60 years, available here.