courts

In a highly unusual move, all six federal judges removed themselves from hearing the case. As a result, a judge from Rhode Island will hear Rep. Laurel Libby's lawsuit accusing House Speaker Ryan Fecteau of attempting to silence her.

Last month the court struck down a 2021 state law that removed a statute of limitations for claims involving child sexual abuse.

The trial over Maine's failure to provide adequate legal representation for low-income defendants continued today in Kennebec Superior Court in Augusta.

A lawsuit over Maine's failure to provide adequate legal representation to low-income defendants has finally gone to trial in Kennebec County Superior Court.

The partial judgment, released last week, is the latest development in a more than two-year-old lawsuit alleging that Maine's indigent defense system is not providing adequate legal representation to low-income defendants.

The commission is in the process of building out a statewide network of public defender offices.

The commission is hopeful that the added defense attorneys will help put a dent in the backlog of more than 800 criminal cases, in which defendants currently lack counsel.

The changes are temporary and fairly technical, and the commission's executive director emphasized that all attorneys taking court-appointed work will still be thoroughly vetted.

As Maine's indigent representation system struggles, defense attorneys say part of the problem is an overburdened, backlogged court system.

Justice Michaela Murphy wrote that the proposed settlement between the state and the ACLU of Maine lacks enforcement capability and, in the meantime, the "constitutional crisis" over a lack of attorneys is getting worse.