Renae Summers

This is more than the shutdown - the fedrral courts ran out of money to pay defense attorneys in JULY.

Congress continues to underfund the Constitutional requirement that poor people get a defense lawyer - the CJA attorneys haven't been paid for 5 months

www.uscourts.gov/data-news/ju...

This was a month ago. And of course, a shutdown occurred. CJA attorneys haven't been paid since July 3, 2025.

They have to do it out of district, which is why Nachmanoff isn't going to decide. FYI.

Nationwide attorneys face unpaid work amid CJA funding crisis The federal program funding court-appointed attorneys has run out, leaving thousands unpaid.

www.wltx.com/article/news...

SC federal judges warn of dire money situation in federal criminal courts Six federal judges in South Carolina, including Chief U.S. Judge Timothy Cain, have written a letter highlighting a critical money shortage in the state’s federal criminal justice system.

Today marks 56 days since CJA funds ran out.

www.thestate.com/news/local/c...

D.C. judges and grand jurors push back on Trump policing surge A federal magistrate judge said one arrest in D.C. was preceded by the “most illegal search I’ve seen in my life” and another lacked “basic human dignity.”

Unmentioned: Liberty's last champions, the brilliant public defender service of DC, filing the motions & planning the strategies that are giving DC jurors and judges an opportunity to reject bogus charges.

If you like freedom, Fund Public Defense

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Today, I spoke w/Renae Alt-Summers & Mekka Jeffers-Nelson, private criminal defense lawyers who take federal public defender cases. They explained why CJA Attorneys haven't been paid since July and the crisis in federal public defense if Congress doesnt act soon.
open.spotify.com/episode/6SMz...

386 | Why Have the Private Defense Lawyers who Take 40% of Federal Public Defense Cases Stopped Getting Paid? w/Renae Alt-Summers and Mekka Jeffers-Nelson

CJA attorney payments have been stopped since July 3rd when the money ran out. I got to appear on the Public Defenseless Podcast this week to discuss the implications for CJA attorneys & clients.

Here are the links to the show

open.spotify.com/episode/6SMz...

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3...

I was a bar advocate for 27 years. Here’s why I had to quit. - The Boston Globe I can say with certainty: Justice isn’t just blind — it’s also broken.

It’s a disgrace that Massachusetts pays criminal defense attorneys $65 per hour when New Hampshire pays twice that much. Our state cannot claim to be serious about equal justice unless it rectify this injustice.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/24/o...

Yes, it is a crisis. www.msn.com/en-us/news/c...

With no money to pay defense lawyers, alarms sound in NC federal courts With their pay shorted by Congress, federal defense lawyers edge toward a difficult decision: Do I pay my light bill, or do I go see my client?

www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/c... Private federal criminal defense attorneys (CJA attorneys) aren't getting paid for work completed until October 1, 2025 unless Congress approves a supplemental budget request.

Money for court-appointed federal criminal defense lawyers is depleted; some lawyers leave program The ABA Journal is read by half of the nation's 1 million lawyers every month. It covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.

www.abajournal.com/news/article...

"There are 73 lawyers on the Albuquerque division of the CJA panel in New Mexico, and 29 private attorneys who are on the CJA panel’s Las Cruces division" who have been told by the federal judicary they now have to pay for their own translators & they won't be paid for their legal services

It is a consequence of the budget freeze and the refusal to appropriate funds. www.uscourts.gov/data-news/ju...

www.uscourts.gov/data-news/ju... When the federal government can't pay CJA attorneys for work already completed, but we can't leave our clients in a lurch. Working without pay.

Infographic titled “One Court, Two Standards” compares how the Supreme Court used emergency powers to rule on lower-court injunctions against the Biden and Trump administrations. Two panels show: • Biden Administration: Lower courts blocked policies in 21 cases. All 21 cases are represented by red squares, indicating that 0% of injunctions/TROs were lifted by SCOTUS. • Trump Administration: Lower courts blocked policies in 86 cases. 66 green squares and 20 red squares show that 77% of injunctions/TROs were lifted by SCOTUS. Key takeaway box below reads: “Using its ‘shadow docket,’ the Supreme Court granted emergency relief to lift 77% of lower-court injunctions against the Trump administration. It lifted 0% of those against the Biden administration.” Sources and notes below include: CourtListener data through July 7, 2025; analysis by Adam Bonica.

The Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” has cast very different shadows depending on which party holds the White House.

When lower courts blocked Trump admin policies, SCOTUS intervened on an emergency basis to lift those orders in 77% of cases.

For the Biden administration, that number was 0%.

The funds ran out on July 3rd.

The funds ran out July 3rd. That means payments for work already done are deferred until at least October 1, 2025. And yet, we keep working.

A Surprise Target of Trump’s Cutbacks Is Devastating One Specific Population - Slate

Defense Lawyers Face Months Without Pay as Federal Funds Dry Up One Kansas City-based criminal defense lawyer is taking out a loan to sustain operations this summer, as she prepares for more than two months without pay once the federal defenders’ budget runs out. ...

One criminal defense lawyer is taking out a loan. Another will be paying her law student intern out of pocket and “putting everything on credit cards.”

My latest on CJA panel attorneys bracing to foot the bill this summer after judiciary funds expire: news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

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ICE conducts Goose Creek operation, police say they were not informed A Lowcountry neighborhood woke up Friday morning to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents serving warrants in the area.

ICE conducts Goose Creek operation, police say they were not informed www.live5news.com/2025/01/31/i...