TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

U.S. Judiciary Approves New Public Defender Office

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 24, 2026

The federal judiciary has approved a new office focused on improving the quality of representation of indigent criminal defendants at the U.S. Supreme Court, with the goal of creating a counterweight to the U.S. Solicitor General's Office, Reuters reports. The U.S. Judicial Conference recently approved the Supreme Court Advocacy Project and the creation of four full-time positions to support it. Its first director will be Ashley Robertson, a lawyer in the Solicitor General's Office. She is a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. The project initially will be housed in the office of the federal public defender for the Eastern District of Virginia. The long-term plan is for the office to become an independent, standalone entity. The judiciary plans to consider funding for that in its 2028 budget, according to reports.

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