Federal judicial officials are warning that pending spending legislation in Congress would force the judiciary to cut hundreds of jobs for public defenders and probation officers and cut back on cybersecurity improvements (article available here).
Members of the Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's policymaking body, in letters to congressional appropriators made public on Tuesday, said pending spending legislation for the 2024 fiscal year would have "detrimental impacts" on court services if enacted by Congress.
The judges said that such cuts could force federal defenders offices to slash as many as 493 full-time positions under the Senate's bill or suspend making payments to private lawyers the court system pays to represent them instead.
Over 90% of defendants receive court-appointed lawyers, and the budget cuts "would negatively impact the progress of significant numbers of criminal cases in the federal courts and a defendant’s constitutional right to counsel and a speedy trial," the judges wrote.
Both appropriations bills also "bring risks to public safety" by forcing the court system to scale back probation and pretrial services offices nationwide who supervise defendants who are not in custody by as many as 840 employees, if the House's version became law, the letter said.
Congress has until Oct. 1, when the new fiscal year starts, to approve government spending legislation.