Public defenders across California wore all black on Thursday to call attention to what they said is a chronic underfunding of their service.
Standing on the steps of the Alameda Courthouse, the county’s top public defender, Brendon Woods, called the current lack of resources for public defenders “a constitutional crisis.”
“When a judge is able to dictate what our workload should be as public defenders, in my mind, the right to counsel is effectively dead,” Woods said.
Attorneys gathered on the steps of the Alameda Courthouse dressed in all black, holding signs depicting a torn image of Clarence Earl Gideon, a man accused of felony breaking and entering in Florida state court in 1961.
After being denied legal counsel and being forced to represent himself, Gideon’s appeal made it to the Supreme Court, solidifying a defendant’s right to be provided a lawyer if they can’t afford one in state felony cases.
The right to counsel is protected in the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Since 2023, the public defender’s office reported a 44% increase in new felony files in 2025 — from 3,266 to 4,708.
Across the Bay Area, public defenders have reported that the number of criminal cases filed has been steadily rising, while their offices’ budgets have not.
Tensions came to a head in San Francisco last month when Public Defender Mano Raju was held in contempt of court after refusing to take on new cases one day a week starting last May, citing understaffing and a lack of adequate resources to provide due process. Raju is facing a fine of $26,000 and plans to appeal.
Raju’s office highlighted a recent study linking excessive workloads with a violation of court ethics.
Woods said he asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for more lawyers, investigators and support staff. According to the 2023 National Public Defense Workload Study, Alameda County Superior Court would need to add an additional 104 attorneys to meet the study’s staffing benchmarks.
“Our clients are suffering more, and nobody seems to be listening,” Alameda Chief Assistant Public Defender Aundrea Brown said on Thursday, dressed in all black. “It’s not an ‘us versus them’. If they suffer, we all suffer.”
Courts in other California cities are experiencing similar strains, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento.
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