Public Defenders

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate’s only former Public Defender, led a bipartisan group of his colleagues in calling on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund the Federal Defender Services program in the…

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a former public defender, led a letter Thursday to Senate appropriators calling for the federal public defender program to receive its full funding request for the upcoming fiscal year.  Twenty-five Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the Senate Judiciary…

BURLINGTON, VT – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), the Senate’s only former federal public defender, last month took to the Senate Floor to address the important role public defenders play in promoting the rule of law and supporting democracy and the Constitution. Senator Welch also…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a Senate Judiciary Committee Meeting today, Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) stressed the importance of bipartisan collaboration to ensure that the federal public defender budget remains adequately funded. “I have circulated a letter, that all of our Democratic colleagues have signed, trying to correct…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today called for his colleagues to reject cuts to the Federal Public Defenders budget, which would undermine the justice system and threaten legal protections. His remarks came during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to advance the nomination of…