Public Defenders Say Budget Bump Wouldn’t Make Up for Past Cuts

Some federal public defenders say the judiciary’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget wouldn’t be enough to fix the fallout from deep cuts implemented over the past eight months.

The judiciary’s administrative arm is asking Congress for $1.7 billion to fund defender services, an increase of nearly 20% over the assumed funding level for the rest of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

A spokesperson for the federal courts’ administrative office said that amount “restores shortfalls” that were expected during the current fiscal year. The spokesperson said the request “would provide 237 additional staff in federal defender organizations to restore positions ...