Bell Tolls for Taxpayer-Supported ACLU
Can't Disestablish Religion Either
By Robert A. Hahn Posted in Culture — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The House Judiciary Committee this week passed H.R. 2679, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA). The bill eliminates the award of attorney's fees — and makes injunction the only remedy available — in establishment clause cases.
The intent is to put an end to abuse of the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act, by the ACLU and others, who have been using it to fund a series of lawsuits seeking the removal of religious expression from various public venues.
More below...
The 1976 law was intended to help individual citizens bring suit against officials who had deprived them of their constitutional rights. The ACLU, however, has been using it to extort settlements from state and local officials who cannot afford to fight a federally-funded ACLU in court.
PERA was introduced by Congressman John Hostettler (R-IN).
“It is outrageous,” said Hostettler, “that public officials have been threatened with the prospect of financial ruin merely because they wish to defend their constitutional rights in a court of law. My legislation allows these folks to have their case heard before a judge rather than settling it out of court."
A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS).
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Bell Tolls for Taxpayer-Supported ACLU 9 Comments (0 topical, 9 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
But does anyone think it will get by a Senate filibuster. Seems like filibusters are being used regularly now in the Senate and no one wants to mention it.
I should say especially if it doesn't, this would be a handy cudgel to beat them about the head with (rhetorically speaking of course).
We could throw them to the dogs (rhetorically speaking) while shoving freedom of speech down their throats ... figuratively, that is.
(I truly dislike that "down the throat" cliche, by the way.)
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The Presidency is a position more easily critiqued than attained.
we in the movement have been waiting for the Party to address for years. The other two things that need to go the way of the dinosaur is the Legal Services corp and the CPB.
We need an end to the public funding of the radical left.
BTW Why does it take so long for the most obvious policies to prevail?
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
For one thing, organizations like the ACLU should seek to raise their funds from private donors, and seek out those who will do pro bono work.
The second thing is that I think a group like the ACLU will choose cases more carefully. They are going to go to court with cases that are worth spending the money on, because they feel that specific cause is absolutely right, not because they will get the bill footed anyway.
I strongly suspicion that the passage of this law wouldn't be the death of the ACLU, but it would probably be the death of weak cases brought by the ACLU and similar groups (I am assuming that any legal group bringing suit under these circumstances can lay claim to taxpayer dollars).
or doesn't the ACLU act out of conviction and love.
It hits between the eyes when you realize that we have been paying for the democrats and their legal allies to mount their assaults thru the courts, a favorite venue for backdoor implementation of leftist policies.
They show their contempt and then they make us pay for it.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
It's about stinking time! I've long held that the ACLU should be prosecuted under the RICO statutes anyway, for their abuse of the 1976 statute.. So, what are the chances of this bill, relatively unfettered, becoming the law of the land? Clearly it will face a very hostile opposition from the Dems.
The Dallas Cowboys will make the playoffs and thrive there in spite of dragging around the big smelly dead mackerel which is terrell owens