President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees with public defender backgrounds are being “singled out for extra criticism” during the confirmation process, a coalition of more than 50 legal groups, including multiple state criminal defense organizations, said in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders.
The letter, sent Wednesday, follows questions from Judiciary Committee Republicans about whether public defenders and criminal defense lawyers would be able to handle the more general docket of a federal court or be fair-minded.
“We reject any suggestion that public defenders and criminal defense lawyers are any less well-prepared for the bench than lawyers from prosecutor ...