Dozens of private New Mexico attorneys who are appointed to represent indigent federal defendants when federal public defenders can't — because of a conflict or other reason — have notified the United States District Court they are no longer accepting new appointments due to federal funding shortfalls that have resulted in them not being paid since early July.

"Notably, this is not about the government shutdown," Ryan Villa, who represents attorneys on the Criminal Justice Act panel, wrote in a letter to U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico Chief Judge Kenneth Gonzales in a Nov. 5 letter — although the shutdown is adding to the delays in people getting paid.

The approximately half a billion dollar budget shortfall that created the problem is "the direct result of Congress

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