Federal Legislation to Help States with Public Defense Problems Introduced

By virtually all accounts, Michigan's public defense problem's are bigger than everyone else's.  So it's a cause for hope, at least, that Sen. Patricky Leahy has introduced the Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2010 to provide assistance to states to carry out their responsibility to provide counsel to indigent criminal defendants in compliance with the 6th Amendment. On the "stick" side of the equation, the proposed legislation gives the Department of Justice authority to sue states that do not properly meet 6th Amendment requirements. 

Here's the bill (PDF).