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Daily Maverick
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
US federal court filing system breached in sweeping cyberattack, Politico reports
Politico said the incident had affected the judiciary's federal case management system, which includes the Case Management/Electronic Case Files, or CM/ECF, which legal professionals use to upload and manage case documents; and Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER, which provides the public with pay-for access to some of the same data. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, didn't immediately return messages seeking comment late Wednesday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately reply to an email. Politico did not say whether any specific entity was suspected of being behind the hack but the case management system – which carries sensitive information such as sealed indictments and arrest warrants – has long been a magnet for foreign spies. In 2021 the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said it was adding new security procedures to protect confidential or sealed records following an apparent compromise of the system. The following year, then-House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said that 'three hostile foreign actors' had targeted the courts' document filing system and that there had been a breach of 'startling breadth and scope.' The federal judiciary has struggled to modernize its aging systems. Earlier this year, U.S. Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve told lawmakers that years of underinvestment had left the judiciary system's IT systems vulnerable. 'Many of them are no longer up to date with modern development standards or security protocols, leaving them expensive to operate, difficult to maintain, and at regular risk of either operational failure or compromising security breaches,' she said.
Chicago Tribune
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Some federal defense lawyers not getting paid for months as funding runs dry
Private defense attorneys who represent indigent clients in federal court are not getting paid for nearly three months — until Oct. 1. The U.S. Courts announced on July 3 that federal funding for the Criminal Justice Act panel attorneys — the private lawyers that pick up public defender cases — ran out of money. The length of time is unprecedented, lawyers said. In the past, funding gaps weren't usually longer than a few weeks. The culprit? Congress only appropriated the same amount of funding as fiscal year 2024 — leaving it with an estimated $116 million shortfall it couldn't fill, according to a release. Local lawyers who spoke with the Post-Tribune said they will continue to take cases and minimize the effect it has on their clients' rights. Putting off cases is 'not an option,' defense lawyer Susan Severtson said, adding she hasn't seen this occur in her 35 years working in law. People are presumed innocent, and she will continue to request experts for her cases. 'I feel fortunate I can ride it out,' she said. 'Lots of new attorneys can't do that.' If left unaddressed, the problem could spiral in the next fiscal year, forcing the judiciary to add $185 million to its budget request, U.S. Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, told a U.S. House subcommittee in May. That month, the judiciary asked Congress for $1.8 billion next year for public defenders, including covering back payments to private attorneys — a nearly 22% increase. The Post-Tribune reached out to U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government for comment. In an email sent accidentally to a reporter, a Joyce aide said they had 'increased' public defender money, but chose to prioritize and 'fully fund' court security to protect judges and cybersecurity. It's unclear what, if any, funding increase public defenders may see. The U.S. House of Representatives has adjourned until September after House Speaker Mike Johnson said he wanted avoid votes to release files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, according to media reports. About 90% of federal defendants can't afford to pay a lawyer. Across the country, about 60% of cases are covered by a federal public defenders' office, while 40% are covered by a panel attorney. Most of the 12,000 private attorneys in the U.S. picking up these cases are typically self-employed, or work for a small law firm. The federal government pays them when the case is over. It's not a cost they typically can afford to bear, Adam Tavitas said, the CJA panel attorney representative for the U.S. Northern District of Indiana. The lawyers have to turn around and pay paralegals, translators, case investigators and expert witnesses, etc. About 15 lawyers in the Northern District of Indiana in Hammond are affected, he said, with about the same each in its South Bend and Fort Wayne offices. 'Obviously, just because you are charged with a crime, it doesn't mean you are guilty,' Tavitas said. 'Every person deserves good, competent representation.' If they go into October and beyond — into the next fiscal year — with an even deeper funding hole, those lawyers could face up to six months without pay, said Jerry Flynn, Executive Director of the Northern Federal Community Defender program — who oversees career federal public defenders. It's unlikely that judges or other officials would want that, he said. The money will have to come from somewhere — that could mean potential staff cuts and/or higher caseloads for career public defenders, putting further strain on the system. It could be a 'death spiral,' he said. The Trump administration's priorities have included pursuing more death penalty cases and ramping up immigration enforcement. So far, there are no death penalty cases in the Northern District of Indiana, but they are anticipating there could be down the line, he said. The biggest strains seem to be on border states with huge volumes of immigration cases, Flynn said. Media reports from New Mexico, for example, show some lawyers have stopped taking cases. Indiana doesn't match those numbers, but he estimates immigration cases — mostly prosecuting people who have returned to the U.S. after they were deported — have increased by 2-3 times since Trump took office in January, totaling about 20 or 25 cases. In the big picture, a funding shortfall could potentially leave death row inmates without representation, defendants in jail longer than necessary, or make a speedy trial not possible, according to a U.S. Courts release. It also means it could be harder to recruit lawyers for the work in the future, if they don't know if they will get paid on time, Tavitas said. Or some could just quit. Traditional public defender offices were unlikely to pick up the slack, as they are already understaffed and have been under a hiring freeze, Tavitas said. Flynn estimated the U.S. has lost 250-300 career public defenders over time, although locally the shortage isn't as urgent. They take pride in what they do, Flynn said. Most of the Jan. 6 defendants, for example, relied on either career public defenders or panel attorneys — meaning the government picked up the tab. 'That's our job,' he said.
Hindustan Times
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
US court-appointed defence lawyers working without pay amid Trump government funding crisis
Court-appointed private lawyers representing indigent federal criminals are now working without pay as the program that paid them has run out of money, the Federal Courts of the US said. Panel attorneys make $175 an hour in non-capital cases, and a maximum of $223 an hour in capital cases. Image for representation(Pexel) This kicks off a three-month delay in paying the lawyers and their related service providers for constitutionally mandated legal work. This crisis has prompted new fears that these lawyers, known as panel attorneys, could turn down new cases. It would leave defendants, even those facing death, without ample representation. Stakeholders voice concern Judge Amy St. Eve, chair of the Judicial Conference's Budget Committee, said, 'The right of a criminal defendant to effective counsel regardless of the defendant's economic status is guaranteed under our Constitution and the Criminal Justice Act. That fundamental right is at risk because we ran out of funding on July 3 to pay the private practice attorneys appointed to represent federal defendants.' 'These attorneys will not be paid until October 1 for the work they have done and for the work that we continue to ask them to do, unless the Judiciary receives supplemental funding from Congress before then,' she added. St. Eve, in a recent congressional testimony, noted, "These disruptions in panel attorney payments negatively affect our panel attorneys, potentially reducing their willingness to accept future appointments and jeopardising the ability to provide necessary and timely representation.' Meanwhile, Judge Cathy Seibel, chair of the Judicial Conference's Defender Services Committee, observed that some attorneys 'continue to work but are not getting paid, which obviously is a tremendous hardship, especially for small firms and solo practitioners.' Impact on the legal system and defendants While payments to panel attorneys have been suspended during earlier congressional budget crises as well, it has rarely been for more than a few weeks in a fiscal year. Over 90% defendants in federal criminal cases have court-appointed lawyers, as they can't afford their own. Federal defenders' organisations handle about 60% of publicly financed cases across the nation. The other 40% is assigned to private defence lawyers who agree to serve on a court's Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel. During this crisis, the Judiciary has been in contact with congressional appropriators about the need for $116 million in supplemental funding, in order to mitigate payment deferrals and avert the continuing situation. 'The continuing resolution to fund the government for fiscal year 2025 passed by Congress in March froze all Judicial Branch funding at the FY 2024 level, which resulted in panel attorney funding running out unusually early. Because of the hard freeze funding level, funding is not available within other Judiciary accounts to address the funding gap,' the Federal Courts of the US explained. There are over 12,000 private panel attorneys across the USA who accept CJA assignments during the year. Around 85% work for small firms or are solo practitioners, so a delay in payment will hit their purses and impact their work. This funding freeze is also having an impact on specialists employed by the defence to present their clients' cases effectively. These include investigators, expert witnesses, or even interpreters. No money means many of these posts may go vacant for three months. In the District of North Dakota, several long-tenured CJA attorneys have resigned from the panel recently, and many federal courts are worried that trials will have to be postponed, which means defendants may be locked up longer than expected, and in some instances, criminal cases might be compromised if requirements under the Speedy Trial Act aren't met. Given that federal defender organisations are understaffed and overworked, with a hiring freeze for 17 of the last 24 months, as Congress tightens its purse strings, they cannot pick up the slack either. How much are panel attorneys paid? Panel attorneys make $175 an hour in non-capital cases, and a maximum of $223 an hour in capital cases, which is significantly lower than market rates. This amount includes both the attorney's compensation and office overhead, which encompasses rent, supplies, and equipment.
