Federal Judiciary Says ‘F.U.’ To Public Defender In A Win For … Justice?

Refusing to implement meaningful workplace reforms is part of a concerted effort by the federal judiciary to maintain the broken status quo and shield abusive judges from accountability, Aliza Shatzman argues in Above the Law. The courts have effectively chilled judicial misconduct complaints by making it nearly impossible for employees to safely file them: they boast about low complaint numbers while actively suppressing them. 

Former federal public defender Caryn Strickland’s landmark lawsuit against the federal judiciary was dismissed in August 2025 after five years of litigation spanning several presidential administrations, two presidential elections, congressional testimony, and a global pandemic. Aliza points out the irony that judges are above the laws they interpret and federal public defenders are tasked with defending their clients’ rights in court while lacking rights themselves.

There is no excuse for Congress’s failure to extend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other federal anti-discrimination protections to more than 30,000 exempt judiciary employees who support the daily functioning of our courts while lacking basic workplace protections. It’s the height of injustice that judicial branch employees have fewer rights than most other workers.