Rather than pass a budget commensurate with the funding necessary to uphold the Constitution, Congress has been operating on a continuing resolution (CR) since 2023 for the budget for the judicial branch, which includes funding for lawyers appointed under the Criminal Justice Act (CJA). This means that for 2024 and 2025 the judicial branch has been operating on the same budget as 2023, in spite of increasing costs because of, among other things, increased rates for lawyers and service providers to keep pace with inflation. To account for the shortfall, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) stopped paying the independent contractors on the CJA Panel rather than take more funding away from Defender Services, which is already on a hiring freeze because of Congress's failure to pass a budget.
 

This situation put the AOC in the awkward position of forecasting to CJA attorneys when funding for their representation would run out. Initially, CJA attorneys were informed that the funding would run out on or around July 23, 2025, and were told to submit outstanding vouchers by mid-July. The last week of June AOC revised its projection to July 7, and implored attorneys to submit vouchers by July 1. On July 3, CJA panelists were informed that funds had run out and vouchers that had not already been processed for payment would not be paid until the next fiscal year beginning October 1. As a result, many attorneys, including yours truly, were not paid for work performed prior to July 1 in spite of following all directions from the AOC.
 

This hardship is temporary—CJA panelists have been assured that come October 1 all outstanding vouchers will be paid once funding for FY 2026 (whether under a CR or an updated budget) becomes available. The greater danger is that Congress continues to abdicate its responsibility to adequately fund the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, that defense services keep being funded on an outdated budget, and in each succeeding year the shortfall hits earlier and earlier.
 

The judicial branch has requested an additional $120 million for FY 2026 to make up this shortfall. For perspective, Congress just approved $170 billion for immigration enforcement, and $45 billion alone to build immigration detention facilities.