Seventy-five days: That’s how long a Wisconsin man languished in jail, deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. With his case helping drive a new class-action lawsuit, Wisconsin now joins an ignominious group of states, including Louisiana and Missouri, in which the courts have been asked to correct wildly deficient spending on public defense.

The suggestion that the courts should appropriate legislative budget prerogatives may incense these states’ Republican legislatures. However, true conservative outrage should be saved for the fact that this fight had to go to the courts in the first place.