Court officials have warned the defender services program will no longer have the funds to pay attorneys, appointed by federal courts to represent criminal defendants who can’t afford representation, for their work over the last few months of this fiscal year (article available here).
They attribute the upcoming suspension to underfunding by Congress.
In the meantime, thousands of CJA panel attorneys, who are mostly solo practitioners or at small firms, won’t be paid for their work and will be left with the bill for expert witnesses, investigators, their own staff, and operating expenses as they continue to take on cases during the suspension period, estimated to start in mid-July and stretch through September.
The upcoming budget-related payment suspension, estimated to begin July 23, was revealed publicly in April in a letter from judiciary officials to congressional appropriators.
The judicial branch’s budget woes stem from it receiving the same funding this fiscal year as last, an effective cut given inflation, after Congress passed a full-year extension of fiscal 2024 funding levels to avoid a government shutdown.
Federal defender organizations has been under its most recent hiring freeze since October, and has been under a hiring freeze for 19 of the past 24 months.
The defenders have also canceled in-person training, space inquisition, and information technology security improvements to save money.
The budget constraints come ahead of an expected increase in criminal cases under new priorities by the Trump administration.