Your host and NY appellate attorney, Mary Whiteside, looks at the arbitrary and opaque political appointment of the next Public Defender in the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office as a microcosm of America’s dysfunctional legal system. In one of the busiest court systems in the country (15,000 new cases in 2021), the stakes of the next MCPD appointment for the office are high—especially for the low-income and minority defendants this office is meant to serve.
If we want the American legal system to start practicing what it preaches—namely, equality and democracy—then counties like Monroe need Public Defenders who, among other things:
Several exceptionally qualified Assistant Public Defenders from the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office applied to become the next Public Defender. Any one of these people would have been an excellent choice. But the political process rejected all of these candidates in favor of a person who is none of these things.
If Monroe County Legislature President Sabrina LaMarr’s recommended appointment goes through, which it almost certainly will, decades of reform are at risk.
Which begs the question: why is LaMarr bringing a less qualified, outside candidate rather than tapping into the wealth of experience and indigent service already available within the public defender’s office? Why have LaMarr’s individual preferences come to stand in for reasonable and well-informed decision-making? What are the stakes for the defendants of Monroe County? And the rest of America, if this process is any indication of what’s happening across the country?
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Sources Cited
Ep. 34 - Making Trans Medicine Illegal with Professor stef shuster
Ep. 33 - Exploring the Reform Prosecutor Movement with Justin Kollar
Ep. 32 - Making Jury Trials More Fair with Rhian Jones
Ep. 31 - Cancel Culture and Wokeness with Prof. Lee Pierce
Ep. 30 - Originalism is Fake
Ep. 29 - Unrig Democracy with Daniel G. Newman
Ep. 28 - Brighten Ax Murder Solved?
Ep. 27 - Judicial Abuse of Law Clerks with Aliza Shatzman
Ep. 26 - Fighting Police Brutality with Don Thompson
Supreme Court HILF with Dawn Brodie
Trailer
Ep. 24 - Usual Cruelty of the Legal System with Alec Karakatsanis
Ep. 23 - We Don’t Talk About Law Clerks with Prof. Eric Segall
Ep. 22 - Representation Isn’t Enough
Ep. 20 - Texas Goddamn
Ep. 19 - No Seriously, Eat the Rich
Ep. 18 - Combating FakeNews at Home and Deepfakes in the Courtroom
Ep. 17 - Broadening the Bench with Julie Cianca
Ep. 16 - Legislation to Save Democracy
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