Biden moving to improve legal services for poor, minorities
President Joe Biden plans to take on executive action Tuesday to make sure minorities, low-income Americans and others have better access to top quality legal representation after services dwindled through the Trump administration.
Biden might sign a memorandum directing the Department of Justice to revive key functions of the shuttered Usage of Justice Office and also to reestablish the White House Legal Help Interagency Roundtable.
The plans are organized in a presidential memo first distributed to The Associated Press. The White House stated that Biden was directing the roundtable to examine the impact that the corona virus pandemic has already established on access to justice in both civil and criminal matters.
The pandemic "has further exposed and exacerbated inequities in our justice system" as legal services were curtailed, Biden wrote. He added that the problems "own touched the lives of several individuals in this country, particularly low-income people and persons of color." Tuesday's memo is usually Biden's latest step to do the job toward reforming the criminal justice program and advancing racial equity. It comes almost a year after the death of George Floyd sparked global protests and requirements for action to handle structural racism.
It builds in an executive order Biden signed found on his first day in office establishing an initiative to prioritize equity found in government operations. His proposed budget seeks $1.5 billion to reinforce state and community criminal justice systems, including public defenders. White House officials said the most recent step will build on those initiatives.
Civil rights organizations and leaders have been pressing the Biden administration to reestablish the Usage of Justice Office and its own do the job. The memo doesn't explicitly reopen any office but requires Attorney Standard Merrick Garland to send an idea within 120 times to expand work on access to justice.
