OK!
BTTT!!!
No Profit from Establishment Cases
by Aaron Atwood, assistant editor
SUMMARY: Indiana Congressman is sponsoring legislation to take the profit out of suing.
Representative John Hostettler, R-Ind., has teamed with the American Legion to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others like them, from strong arming defendants.
The Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 (PERA) would prohibit attorneys' fees from being collected in cases against the establishment of religion clause.
The ACLU boasts more than 400,000 members and supporters and handles more than 6,000 cases each year. Its 2003 revenue topped $44 million while it claims to have been awarded more than $2 million in settlements.
The legislation comes at a time when the ACLU is challenging the mention of "Jesus" in the Indiana legislature, the cross on the California state seal and prayer at graduation ceremonies across America. Regularly such cases never make it to court because of concern over the cost of attorney fees.
A solitary cross stands on the hillside of a national preserve near the Nevada-California border. Frank Buono, a retired park ranger, sued, claiming that his seeing the cross a couple times every year infringed on his rights. The courts agreed. The ACLU pocketed $63,000 in attorneys' fees.
Currently, when the ACLU wins a case, as it did in Buono v. Norton, the losing party must pay the fees of the successful attorneys. Initially the law was good. Poor minorities were facing discrimination but were unable to afford a lawyer. Now, liberal advocacy groups are using the law as a burden to municipalities faced with potential religious liberties cases.
In light of the situation facing many state and federal agencies, Rees Lloyd, a former ACLU attorney and past commander of American Legion Post 428, took action. Lloyd authored Legion's Resolution 326. The resolution calls the group's 2.7 million members to "expressly preclude the courts from awarding attorney fees… in lawsuits brought to remove or destroy religious symbols."
The Legion had adopted that cross in the middle of the Mojave Desert in 2003. Now the ACLU was treading on sacred ground.
"The ACLU has become fanatical," Lloyd said. "The facts are the facts. They are elitist social engineers."
Then he raised a critical point.
"As a former ACLU attorney, I know that they have no attorney fees," he said. "They are either done by staff attorneys or volunteers."
In fact, in Buono v. Norton, the counsel listed for the plaintiff was "Peter J. Eliasberg and Mark D. Rosenbaum, ACLU Foundation of Southern California, Los Angeles, California." Both attorneys are ACLU staffers.
Hostettler has taken his bill to the House before. In 2003 the bill died in subcommittee. But Lloyd is quick to point out this is a different Congress.
"Now there are 2.7 million people solidly and unanimously supporting this bill," Lloyd noted.
The legislation is currently in its infancy in the 109th Congress but already has 20 co-sponsors.
"We're in pretty good shape," a spokesman for Rep. Hostettler said. "One hundred is a magic number because you can kind of force a bill through with that."