This is why you see the ACLU dipping its fingers in a lot of litigation.
[sidebar]A 2011 revision to that law evidently went nowhere. Had some good features:
The new bill would require that people who sue show they have a “direct and personal monetary interest” in suing the government to be eligible to recoup court costs.
It would set a new, higher cap of $175 per hour for attorney fees, peg that to inflation and cap total reimbursement to $200,000. It would allow no more than three reimbursements in a calendar year.
Crapo and Risch cited court documents suggesting groups have sued the government more than 1,200 times and received upward of $35 million in taxpayer funds.
Another way for clever lawyers to rip off the taxpayers and worse.