From Harvard, where else?
"Harvard’s Tribe to lead effort to boost legal aid; Would take leave, join Justice Dept." by Carrie Johnson, Washington Post | February 26, 2010
WASHINGTON - The announcement was made a week after senior leaders at the Justice Department appeared at a Washington conference to draw attention to the large caseloads handled by public defenders and other challenges in providing legal services to low-income defendants.
Some juvenile offenders, for example, are being forced to go to court without seeing a lawyer, officials said.
In AmeriKa?
“Problems in our criminal justice system aren’t just morally untenable,’’ Attorney General Eric Holder told an audience at the Mayflower Hotel on Feb. 18. “They’re also economically unsustainable. . . . When the justice system fails to get it right the first time, we all pay, often for years, for new filings, retrials, and appeals.’’
This from a guy who goes along with patsy framings over phony terror plots and approves of torture.
The Supreme Court, in cases nearly a half century ago, ruled that defendants accused of felony crimes, serious misdemeanors, and juvenile offenses must be provided with lawyers if they cannot afford to hire attorneys on their own.
It's something we all learned from TV cop shows.
You have the right to an attorney; if you can not afford one, one will be appointed by the court (or something similar).
Apparently not.
Funding shortfalls in many states, exacerbated by the current economic downturn, mean public defenders often have 100 or more clients, according to “Justice Denied,’’ a report by the Constitution Project.
But we always have plenty of money for banks, wars, corporations, political perks....
“The fundamental integrity of our justice system depends on equal access to justice and effective representation for all parties,’’ said Tracy Schmaler, Justice Department spokeswoman....
From all I have seen, the $ystem i$n't that equal -- not at all.
--more--"
And Obama turned his back on his tribe just as he turned his back on voters?
"Obama creates nebulous niche for legal mentor; Harvard Law scholar Tribe works for poor" by Charlie Savage, New York Times | April 8, 2010
WASHINGTON — Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor who is arguably the most famous constitutional scholar and Supreme Court practitioner in the country is also largely invisible. The Justice Department is not allowing him to give interviews, apparently in part because of nervousness in the administration that his unabashedly liberal views might draw criticism....
Several friends and administration officials said Tribe had initially sought and believed he would be given a far broader title and assignment: counselor for “rule of law’’ issues, which would have come with a mandate to help shape matters of national security and foreign policy.
That did not happen, but Tribe came to Washington anyway....
Then why bother with the rest?
