Washington: The ongoing U.S. government shutdown has entered its fourth week, severely disrupted the nation’s justice system and pushed thousands of court-appointed defense attorneys into financial distress. As Congress remains locked in a budget impasse, funding for the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel lawyers who represent indigent defendants has dried up, creating a constitutional and ethical dilemma across federal courts.

More than 12,000 private attorneys serve under the CJA, ensuring legal representation for defendants who cannot afford to hire their own counsel. However, the pool of funds that supports these legal services was exhausted in July. With no new appropriations due to the shutdown, these lawyers have been working without pay for weeks, forcing many to decline new cases

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