Obama told everyone that the sequester would be a horrible disaster. And he was right. Just imagine poor Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers having to skip through four paragraphs on how he was abused by American drones as a child or how he suffers from Compulsive Jihad Syndrome.

As the federal public defender office in Boston prepares to defend Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old charged in the Boston Marathon bombings, the lawyers involved face an added challenge: managing the case in the midst of furloughs. Federally mandated budget cuts known as sequestration could force Tsarnaev’s lawyers to take up to 15 days of unpaid leave before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Lawyers familiar with the office said it is feeling the pinch in other ways, including leaving vacant positions unfilled. “There’s no doubt that the sequester is going to affect the administration of justice in general, in Boston, and with this case specifically,” said John Cunha Jr. of Boston’s Cunha & Holcomb, former president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Or alternatively, it’s going to prevent the Muslim terrorist’s lawyers from affecting the administration of justice.

Thirteen attorneys serve in the Boston federal public defender office. The furloughs would coincide with the early weeks of Tsarnaev’s defense, which Cunha said is a “crucial” time. “You start to figure out where you are and where the government is and where they’re going to go and how to protect this person’s rights.”

I presume none of the lawyers eager to use taxpayer money to protect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s rights from Americans lost any legs at the marathon.