The federal judiciary has requested emergency funds from the White House that court officials say are needed to avoid debilitating staff cuts and to cover the legal defense of the Boston bombings suspect, among others.

Courts officials asked for about $73 million in a May 14 letter to the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, citing "critical needs" resulting from federal budget cuts known as sequestration.

The amount includes $31.5 million for court salaries and expenses; $27.7 million to ensure attorneys who participate in indigent defense programs are paid through the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30; $8.7 million to avoid staff cuts and furloughs in federal public defenders' offices; and $5 million for defense and expert costs in "high-threat" cases in Boston and New York City, according to the letter.

A court official said those cases included the prosecutions of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, and Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and one-time spokesman for al-Qaeda.