Today we celebrate a legal system grounded in the principle that everyone appearing in our courts is entitled to a fair and impartial hearing. We must, however, recognize that at least one essential element of that system remains in serious crisis, threatened by budgetary concerns and burgeoning caseloads.
I do not write of judicial compensation (although the description fits). I write of the crisis in indigent defense which, lamentably, remains both an “enduring tradition” and an “emerging challenge” for the 21st century.
