Judge Julia S. Gibbons' testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Bankruptcy and the Courts at a hearing entitled "Sequestering Justice: How the Budget Crisis Is Undermining Our Courts" shined a well needed light on the shadow the sequester has already cast on the nation's federal courts and the criminal and civil justice systems.
These effects are of grave concern to those familiar with the important function courts play in administering this nation's laws. As the sequester persists, the pernicious effects will only worsen. The Federal Bar Council, an organization of attorneys who practice before the federal courts of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, has expressed its concern to the president and Congress about how severely the sequester has compromised and will increasingly compromise both the courts and the Federal Defenders' ability to fulfill their constitutional duties.
