The long-running lawsuit over Maine's failure to provide attorneys to indigent defendants was back before the state Supreme Court today. The question before the court now is if the suit can include the State of Maine as a defendant.
Assistant Attorney General Paul Suitter argued that the state is covered by sovereign immunity, and can't be named in the lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Maine. Instead, he said, the correct defendants are state agencies like the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services.
Suitter said if the state were to be a party in the case, it can't provide additional relief and it would open up other legal debates.
Plaintiffs' attorney Jordan Bock said the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services is making the same argument.
"I think what's critical here is the MCPDS defendants have said throughout this case, they, 'Do not have the power to provide the relief demanded in plaintiff's proposed amended complaint,'" Bock said. "They've said they cannot provide the relief demanded. And they've repeatedly said that the ultimate party in interest is the state"
Bock said that leaves the state to solve the problem.
The state's appeal focuses only on one count of the lawsuit. If the Law Court rules in favor of the state, the other elements of the case will still go forward.
