Morgenthau Calls for Equal Justice

Former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau wrote a Daily News op-ed piece last week headlined: "Pass a law to improve access to attorneys."

In it, he noted the allegations in the New York Civil Liberties lawsuit against the State and five counties for deficiencies in public defense. These, Morgenthau said, "unnerved me so much that, along with 61 other former federal and state prosecutors, I joined a brief authored by the Brennan Center for Justice in which we are urging the New York Court of Appeals to declare that New York's courts must hear the claim for better defense services."

Like the former Court of Appeals justices who authored op-ed pieces last year (posted on the Campaign’s website), Mr. Morgenthau "would prefer to see this crisis resolved through legislation, rather than by court decree." Like them, he hopes the NYCLU suit serves as “the wakeup call for lawmakers to finally do their duty and take on the challenge of providing all New Yorkers equal justice under the law." But, he notes, if the Legislature fails, it will fall to the courts to address the problem "in a way that is fair to the state, the plaintiffs, all criminal defendants and ultimately to the cause of justice."