Hey, we could use some stimulus over here!

From the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, all you could want to know about Thursday's Congressional hearing concerning indigent defense:

Hearing on the Representation of Indigent Defendants in Criminal Cases: A Constitutional Crisis in Michigan and Other States?

In a historic move, the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on March 26, 2009 to investigate the failure of a state to uphold the right to counsel for those accused of a crime, a right promised by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s Sub-Committee on Crime, Terrorism & Homeland Security focused on the serious flaws in Michigan’s public defense system, which include numerous questionable practices, from untrained and overburdened attorneys to slight-of-hand maneuvers to get the accused to unwittingly waive their right to an attorney...

Update: the ACLU blog has more, actually.