NACDL News: DOJ Acts Boldly in Case to Expose Indigent Defense Deficiencies

With the nation’s indigent defense system mired in a persistent crisis of underfunding as a result of the failure of the states to enforce the Supreme Court’s landmark Sixth Amendment right to counsel decision in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Department of Justice has acted boldly in a case that seeks to expose the resulting deficiencies. In the case of Hurrell-Harring et al. v. New York, a class action brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union challenging systemic deficiencies in the indigent defense services in several New York counties, the Department of Justice, on behalf of the federal government, filed a Statement of Interest in the pending litigation on Sept. 25.