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Last updated on August 26, 2025
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Public Defense Reform
The ACLU, the ACLU of Idaho, and the global law firm Hogan Lovells filed a lawsuit in 2015 against the State of Idaho over its defective public defense system. That litigation is ongoing today.
The ACLU, the ACLU of Idaho, and the global law firm Hogan Lovells filed a lawsuit in 2015 against the State of Idaho over its defective public defense system. That litigation is ongoing today.
When Idaho passed HB 504 in early 2016, it created the Idaho Public Defense Commission (PDC). The PDC is tasked with creating standards to guide the work of defending attorneys across the state and to ensure constitutional levels of public defense service to their indigent clients.
Beginning in 2018, the PDC engaged in public rule creation (negotiated rulemaking) and asked for public comment on PDC draft standards pertaining to investigations, use of experts, parity in investigators, experts, and testing resources between public defenders and prosecutors, and qualifications for public defenders who work on death penalty cases. The most recent PDC Strategic Plan is available here.
The Public Defender Act should be amended to alleviate concerns. As Idaho transitions to a statewide system, it will be incumbent on the newly appointed State Public Defender to implement, monitor compliance with, and enforce national workload standards.
The Idaho legislature will also need to address funding inadequacies—otherwise, the “new model” for public defense in Idaho will be doomed to failure.
The failures of Idaho’s current public defense system have already resulted in years of costly litigation. The litigation is ongoing today and will continue until the system lives up to our treasured U.S. and Idaho constitutions.
