A budget crunch is forcing the D.C. Public Defender Service to furlough all employees one day a week for the summer. Without a literal act of Congress, it won’t be fixed.
A budget crunch is forcing the D.C. Public Defender Service to make the "difficult" decision to furlough all their employees one day a week this summer. That includes 120 attorneys who represent D.C.’s indigent defendants, clients whom the Public Defender Service has called among the "most vulnerable" in the District.
The furloughs were laid out in a letter sent last week to the D.C. Superior Court’s chief judge and several other D.C. criminal justice agencies, News4 has confirmed.
The D.C. Public Defender Service (PDS) handles thousands of matters in D.C. courts every year, according to its most recent annual report. They represent people accused of every level of crime, people with mental health issues, juvenile cases, and people appearing in appeals and civil courts as well.
While not a federal agency, the PDS is funded by a congressional appropriation.
We're making it easier for you to find stories that matter with our new newsletter — The 4Front. Sign up here and get news that is important for you to your inbox.
According to their most recent budget, $3 million of their $53.6 million budget can only be used for a relocation this year. The service recently moved offices, and at this point, News4 has learned, the PDS doesn’t need that money to move anymore. They need it for salaries -- but since the cash came from Congress, the problem won’t be fixed without a literal act of Congress.
News4 is not aware of any pending congressional action to fix the budget issue.
According to the PDS budget, posted online, 70% of the agency’s spending is on personnel. That’s the only place they can really look to save money.
Their solution is to furlough employees one day per week. Most of their 120 attorneys will get an unpaid day off every Wednesday from mid-June to mid-September. Some will take another day off. None are immune from the furlough.
In the letter to the Superior Court and several other D.C. agencies, Heather N. Pinckney, the director of the service, explained: "As a result of the weekly office closure, PDS attorneys will not be able to appear in any court for any matter, including initial appearances, preliminary hearings, and trials ... This decision to close was a difficult one to make but is necessitated by the unprecedented circumstances faced by the agency."
The furloughs will mean even more delays at the D.C. Superior Court, where the most serious criminal cases are already taking nearly two years to resolve, according to court records.
A spokesperson for the courts told us Thursday: “The Court is ... doing all that we can to administer fair and timely justice in light of this recent news, but we will clearly be hampered in cases where there is not an attorney present to represent their clients.”
“This is yet another significant bump in the road in Superior Court’s efforts deliver fair and timely justice ... coupled with the critical judicial vacancies impacting the Court and those that we serve," the spokesperson said.
As News4 has reported in the past, 13 of the 62 Superior Court judgeships are vacant. That, too, will take an act of Congress to fix — specifically, the U.S. Senate.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
Eleven nominees are working their way through the Senate for confirmation, but some have been waiting months. There is no date for a confirmation vote.
Update (Friday, May 3, 2024, 12:20 p.m. ET): The article has been updated from a previous version. The DC Public Defenders Service budget is $53.6 million this fiscal year, not $59.5 as originally reported. The agency’s budget submission requested $59.5 million and Congress appropriated $53.6 million.
