Attorney General Merrick Garland has reinstated the Office for Access to Justice, a separate office within the Justice Department that was suspended during the Trump administration, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The decision by Garland to reestablish the office comes as a result of President Biden's memorandum from May, in which he recommended that the office be restored, according to a Reuters report.
"Making real the promise of equal justice under law was the founding principle of the Department of Justice and is the mission for which it must always stand,” Garland said in the press release. “There can be no equal justice without equal access to justice. And because we do not yet have equal access to justice in America, the task before us is urgent.”
The plan was submitted to Biden in September after a strategic review process that started in May.
This process included civil legal aid and public defense groups, pro bono practitioners, bar associations, data scientists and leaders in environmental, economic, and immigration reform.
The Office for Access to Justice was established in 2016 with the purpose of developing and coordinating civil legal support and criminal defense programs for low-income Americans.
