[donmeaker]

I figure lawyers should be paid by the people who they work for.

If the people who they are working for don't want to pay them, it would say something about the quality of the services rendered.

Lawyers are highly paid, and they should only be consulted and their services employed when there is significant harm. If they are paid using the coercive power of the Court when there is not significant harm, the productive powers of the country are stunted, and the treasure of the country is shifted to the pockets of the lawyers. Another name for Tyranny.

[thomaswest]

The losing party in a law suit usually pays as part of the final settlement. Sometimes the parties split the costs, recognizing that both sides have incurred costs.

When a local governmental authority deliberately violates the Constitution out of self-aggrandizing posturing, they should suffer the costs. The TSA is a good example.