February 2, 2018

Trump regime quietly closes office set up to help legal aid

NY Times -The Justice Department has effectively shuttered an Obama-era office dedicated to making legal aid accessible to all citizens, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The division, the Office for Access to Justice, began as an initiative in 2010 under former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to increase and improve legal resources for indigent litigants in civil, criminal and tribal courts.

While Attorney General Jeff Sessions cannot close the office without notifying the Congress, he can sideline it by moving its resources elsewhere. Its offices now sit dark on the third floor of the Justice Department building. The staff of a dozen or so has dwindled and left the department over the past few months, the people said. Maha Jweied, the acting director of the department, left this month to start a consulting business, according to her LinkedIn profile.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine who it helped, or would have helped.

I'm suing for negligent injury and it's been quite an eye-opener: $275 to file, $60 per defendant to serve the papers, and that's only the beginning. And I'm living on the social-security OAP in Mass, where 50% of my pension goes to rent and electricity and despite being on a list for public housing, I'll be dead before my name comes up.

Anonymous said...

Being caught up in the system is usually shocking.