Reps. Lee, Scanlon Unveil Bill to Expand Public Defender Services

Bill Text | One Pager

WASHINGTON, D.C. – JUNE 6, 2025 — Today, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12) and Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) reintroduced the True Justice Act, legislation to expand public defender services at bail hearings. While the Sixth Amendment guarantees legal representation at key stages of a prosecution, the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to recognize bail hearings as one of those critical stages. As a result, individual states and counties are left to decide whether to provide defense counsel during bail proceedings.

“Due process is a constitutional right and justice should never be determined by your bank account,” said Rep. Lee. “Every person deserves proper representation at every stage of a prosecution, including bail hearings. The True Justice Act would expand public defender services and help break the cycle of criminalization and dismantle the mass incarceration crisis tearing families apart starts at the first step. I thank Congresswoman Scanlon for her partnership on this bill and urge my colleagues to pass it without delay.”

“The right to counsel is enshrined in our constitution, but a lack of resources in our state and local public defender offices still prevents many people from accessing representation at every stage of the justice process. That includes bail hearings, and can result in unnecessary pretrial detentions,” said Rep. Scanlon. “I’m proud to join Rep. Lee in introducing the True Justice Act to ensure that public defender offices across the country can ensure representation at these high-stakes hearings.”

A recent study of Pittsburgh’s pilot program by RAND found that providing counsel—a public defender—at the bail hearing decreased the use of monetary bail and pretrial detention without increasing the rate at which defendants failed to appear at preliminary court hearings.

The legislation would:

• Establish grants for state and local public defender offices and programs to expand their services to include representation at bail hearings, which would also include funds for training attorneys to best represent people at these hearings.
• Express a sense of Congress that these hearings are a critical stage of a person’s case.

The True Justice Act is co-sponsored by Representatives Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Henry “Hank” Johnson (GA-04), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Shontel Brown (OH-11), Emanuel Cleaver (MI-05), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), and Ayanna Pressley (MA-07).

The True Justice Act is endorsed by Southern Poverty Law Center, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), Justice Policy Institute, and Project on Government Oversight.

“The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers supports this bill because it is more than an investment in public defense, it is a commitment to the Rule of Law, the right to counsel, and a criminal legal system that is as interested in protecting the innocent as it is in convicting the guilty,” said NACDL President Christopher A. Wellborn. “This funding would help fill the void created by the abrupt termination of federal grants that provided public defense practitioners with the same high-quality training as their prosecution counterparts. As prosecutions and penalties increase, defenders must have staff, resources, and support to meet increased demand and prevent miscarriages of justice. From wrongful convictions and excessive sentences to lengthy backlogs and delays, the consequences of an under-resourced public defense function are dire.”

A copy of the bill can be found here and a one-pager is here.

Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.4 billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs.  Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 3,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.