Appointed by Mayor London Breed to replace the late Jeff Adachi, Manohar "Mano" Raju previously served as Deputy Public Defender, and managed the office's Felony Division.

As manager of the office's felony unit, Raju criticized the lack of representation in jury pools, noting in 2017 that:"It’s not uncommon that you’ll walk into a felony trial with an African American client and turn around and see anywhere from zero to maybe three African Americans in the whole jury pool"[9]Following Jeff Adachi's death in 2019, Raju was appointed Public Defender of San Francisco by Mayor London Breed.

[1] Matt Gonzalez, who briefly served as acting Public Defender in Adachi's place, praised the appointment of Raju, stating "If I could have made the choice on my own, I would have chosen him.

On matters of criminal justice reform, Raju favors the creation of an integrity unit within the office to investigate potentially unfair convictions.

[16] Raju was among the public officials to criticize Mayor London Breed's declaration of a state of emergency in the Tenderloin neighborhood, arguing that incarcerating homeless residents and individuals with substance abuse disorder would not solve problems facing the community.

Regarding his position, Raju said he views "public defender work as falling within the tradition of broader freedom struggles that have always relied upon multiracial solidarities", and cited the activism of Bayard Rustin of Ram Manohar Lohia.