Posted on 12/03/2004 10:23:37 AM PST by drc43
Section 1988. Proceedings in vindication of civil rights
(a) Applicability of statutory and common law
The jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters conferred on the
district courts by the provisions of titles 13, 24, and 70 of the
Revised Statutes for the protection of all persons in the United
States in their civil rights, and for their vindication, shall be
exercised and enforced in conformity with the laws of the United
States, so far as such laws are suitable to carry the same into
effect; but in all cases where they are not adapted to the object,
or are deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable
remedies and punish offenses against law, the common law, as
modified and changed by the constitution and statutes of the State
wherein the court having jurisdiction of such civil or criminal
cause is held, so far as the same is not inconsistent with the
Constitution and laws of the United States, shall be extended to
and govern the said courts in the trial and disposition of the
cause, and, if it is of a criminal nature, in the infliction of
punishment on the party found guilty.
(b) Attorney's fees
In any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of sections
1981, 1981a, 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986 of this title, title IX of
Public Law 92-318 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.), the Religious
Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C.
2000cc et seq.), title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42
U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), or section 13981 of this title, the court,
in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the
United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs,
except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an
act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity such
officer shall not be held liable for any costs, including
attorney's fees, unless such action was clearly in excess of such
officer's jurisdiction.
(c) Expert fees
In awarding an attorney's fee under subsection (b) of this
section in any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of
section 1981 or 1981a of this title, the court, in its discretion,
may include expert fees as part of the attorney's fee. In 1976, Congress passed the Civil Rights Attorneys Fee Awards Act, which was designed to encourage private lawyers to take on suits to protect civil and constitutional rights. The law provides that judges can order federal and state governments to pay legal fees to private lawyers who sued the government and won. The result has been a flood of civil rights cases in federal court. From The New American Feb. 2, 1987
It's an outrage that US law, passed during the Watergate era, allows the ACLU to collect attorney's fees for makework----Christian-hatng lawsuits it itself launches.
That means "values voters" have been footing the bill for the ACLU's launching a juggernaut to remove Ten Commandments images, Christmas creches and Christmas carols, taking God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, and because they claim they have a civil right not to see the Ten Commandments, a civil right not to hear the word “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, not to see a creche of the Baby Jesus, not to hear Christmas carols. The ACLU has collected a huge amount of our tax dollars in this left-handed fundraiser for the ACLU.
FReepers can silence the ACLU with a bit of activism. We need to insist our Congressmen repeal this abusive law that allows the ACLU to get rich on harassing Christian America. Congress must repeal laws enabling the ACLU's Christian-hating activities. Cut off the ACLU's funds and watch them disappear. Here's what we can do.
The IRS should determine whether the ACLU is properly accounting for all its tax-funded activities, whether it is inflating legal costs, and whether it is using tax dollars for the purposes stated. We need to know whether the ACLU is engaged in Enron-style accounting and spending practices.
REFERENCE SOURCE FOR ARGUING REPEAL TO CONGRESS
Apparently, when Congress contemplated the fee-shifting bill three decades ago, it never conceived that 42 U.S.C. §1988 would be used to secure fees in esoteric battles over the meaning of the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
The statute gives a court "discretion" to award attorneys' fees to the prevailing party in civil rights cases.
Study of the legislative history of the statute reveals that Congress intended this statute to apply to civil rights abuses, including certain race and sex discrimination cases, but not to arguments about whether Judge Roy Moore is allowed to display the Ten Commandments in the Alabama courthouse.
During the deliberations on the bill, the Senate penned that "in many cases arising under our civil rights laws, the citizen who must sue to enforce the law has little or no money with which to hire a lawyer."[6] In the recent First Amendment lawsuits filed by the ACLU, the tables are turned.
Small school districts and municipalities can either defend lawsuits and risk paying the ACLU's attorneys' fees if they lose, or they can voluntarily submit to the ACLU's view of the Constitution.
Even if lawsuits over the establishment clause somehow fall within 42 U.S.C. §1988, the statute empowers courts with nothing more than "discretion" to award fees.
In these cases, one would expect courts to withhold awarding fees. Since this is not happening, Congress must take immediate action to clarify 42 U.S.C. §1988 to explicitly exclude lawsuits related to the acknowledgement of God."
Terrific information from your posting this morning.
I think bears repeating here and often until we get some action.
Wrong. If the government razes your house, takes your bank account, imprisons you, and then realizes its all a mistake and says, "Sorry" but refuses to make you whole again (and then some), are you telling me they shouldn't be responsible for your attorney's fees when you sue and win?
Let's not let our hatred of the ACLU (which is entirely justified) ruin our perspective here. The poster you responded to was 100% right; they shouldn't be winning these cases, but in the example above you should. If this law wasn't in place, you'd never be able to find an attorney to take your case, and you wouldn't win on your own.
The headline is terribly misleading. This statute is called a "fee-shifting" statute. It isn't public financing of anything, and there are other fee-shifting statutes to apply to other litigation. In this case, the government just happens to be the defendant, and the government just happens to be taxpayer financed. But that doesn't mean the fee shifts become public financing.
BTTT
Under the aegis of its Foundation, the ACLU could get away with murder. Within that structure all kinds of financial misdeeds can be hidden. For example, the ACLU also receives private funds. It would be interesting to know what kind of financial activities officers of publicly-traded corporations engaged in and whether their donations to the ACLU were properly accounted for on company financial statements, whether shareholders were duly notified of corporate ACLU donations, whether the donations were made from corporate funds in the names of private individuals, and whether the ACLU itself properly accounted for these donations when filing official statements.
They also use the attorneys' fees right as a bludgeon to win cases out-of-court.
Thanks, tuesday---I hadn't thought of that. I would definitely be open to alleviating that.
Very well thought out Liz!!
Revealing FACTS on the ACLU
from its own writings
;
by Diane Dew
Ever notice how the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) seems to take on only cases that are anti-Christian - pro-sodomy, pro-abortion, anti-family, pro-pornography, pro-prostitution, pro-euthanasia, pro-homosexual, pro-infanticide, pro-crime, pro-humanism, anti-God -- and, except for atheism, anti-religion?
It calls itself the American Civil Liberties Union, but the ACLU is not American; it is uncivil (to the unborn, which are shredded mercilessly to pieces without anesthetic); and it knows nothing of true liberty, which can only be found in Jesus Christ, when one is set free from the bondage of all the SIN this evil organization PROMOTES!
Stated Goals
The ACLU's founder, Roger Baldwin, stated: "We are for SOCIALISM, disarmament, and ultimately for abolishing the state itself... We seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the SOLE CONTROL of those who produce wealth. COMMUNISM is the goal." (Source: Trial and Error, by Geo. Grant)
The ACLU is destructive to the fabric of our society. Christians must recognize Satan as the source - the instigator - when the end results of an organization's efforts are only "to kill, to steal, and to destroy." All we need to is examine the (rotten) fruit.
Following are some of the stated goals of the ACLU, from its own published Policy Issues:
the legalization of prostitution (Policy 211);
the defense of all pornography, including CHILD PORN, as "free speech" (Policy 4);
the decriminalization and legalization of all drugs (Policy 210);
the promotion of homosexuality (Policy 264);
the opposition of rating of music and movies (Policy 18);
opposition against parental consent of minors seeking abortion (Policy 262);
opposition of informed consent preceding abortion procedures (Policy 263);
opposition of spousal consent preceding abortion (Policy 262);
opposition of parental choice in children's education (Policy 80)
-- not to mention the defense and promotion of euthanasia, polygamy, government control of church institutions, gun control, tax-funded abortion, birth limitation, etc. (Policies 263, 133, 402, 47, 261, 323, 271, 91, 85).
Following is a case in point (from David Barton's "America: To Pray or Not to Pray").
In 1988, California was considering adopting legislation on sex education for public schools requiring that course material and
instruction should stress that monogamous heterosexual intercourse within marriage is a traditional American value.
The Senator promoting the bill received a letter of protest from the ACLU dated April 18, 1988 stating:
; ; ; ; ; ; "It is our position that monogamous, heterosexual intercourse within marriage
; ; ; ; ; ; as a traditional American value is an unconstitutional establishment of religious
; ; ; ; ; ; doctrine in public schools.... We believe [this bill] violates the First Amendment."
Truth is, liberals are unwilling to simply let others be, but rather seek to impose their UNgodliness upon Christians. It is a mission to
them and other atheists to pervert the freedoms of others. The ACLU does not run to the defense of those who are harmed; it aggressively
seeks out opportunities to corrupt pure freedoms.
Finances
How does the ACLU pay for its activities?
George Grant, author of "Trial and Error," puts the ACLU's annual budget (1993) at $14 MILLION (FOURTEEN MILLION DOLLARS) - much of which is "SUPPLIED BY THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER through the Federal program mandated by the Civil Rights Attorneys' Fee Awards Act of 1976. If the ACLU wins a case that involves a public institution, for instance, the organization collects the full legal fees of its attorneys even though those attorneys offered their services pro bono (without charge).
Membership
1993 membership in the ACLU was 250,000 members, with 70 staff lawyers, and 5,000 volunteer attorneys, handling an average of 6,000 cases at any one time.
You can read about the ACLU at the ACLU's official web site: http://aclu.org/ ;
If the ACLU rigged its federal and state funding statements in collusion with officers of publicly-held companies who filed false financial instruments, that would be considered aiding and abetting the commission of federal and state crimes. Employing fraudulent accounting practices in order to cover-up corporate wrongdoing would have jeopardized the financial interests of stockholders, corporate associates and partners which would compel the SEC to step in.
"Employing fraudulent accounting practices in order to cover-up corporate wrongdoing would have jeopardized the financial interests of stockholders, corporate associates and partners which would compel the SEC to step in."
How I would love to see this come to pass. You must be in finance.
Your examples are exactly why the ACLU needs to go.
I knew someway somehow we would find they use Taxpayer money. Now they can no longer be considered a private and secretive organization, they are subject to investigation for corruption.
Ping!
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