TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on May 19, 2021

President Joe Biden took executive action yesterday designed to ensure minorities, low-income Americans and others have better access to quality legal representation after services dwindled during the Trump administration, the Associated Press reports. Biden signed a memorandum directing Attorney General Merrick Garland to submit a plan within 120 days to restore the key functions of the Access to Justice Office, which was created in 2010 and has worked on issues such as criminal indigent defense, enforcement of fines, language barriers in the courts and civil legal aid. The office was shut down by the Trump Justice Department in 2018. The order also directs Garland to reestablish the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable and task the group with examining the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on access to justice. WMC Action News 5 has more on the story.