In Re Detention of ME

Amicus Curiae Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Petitioner King County Department of Public Defense

Brief filed: 09/29/2025

Documents

In Re Detention of ME

Supreme Court of the State of Washington; Case No. 042128

Argument(s)

This case raises issues of national significance concerning the role of courts in managing public defense obligations under difficult structural conditions. The trial court in the order at issue on this appeal compelled the King County Department of Public Defense (DPD) to assign cases to attorneys who had already reached their caseload limits. That order violates constitutional guarantees and places defenders in the ethically untenable position of accepting assignments they cannot competently perform. The trial court' s order presents a dangerous inversion of constitutional priorities. NACDL urges this Court to reverse that order, and to reaffirm its prior decisions and its recent order on caseload limitations, all of which advance the principle that because the right to counsel is a right to effective representation, courts cannot require defenders to take on excessive caseloads.

Author(s)

Robin E. Wechkin, Sidley Austin LLP, Issaquah, WA; Benjamin Farkas, Sidley Austin LLP, San Francisco, CA; Christine T. Karaoglanian, Sidley Austin LLP, Los Angeles, CA

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