The ACLU Feeds Heavily At The Public Trough
By Thomas D. Segel (01/27/06)
Harlingen, Texas, January 26, 2006: Seldom does a week pass in the USA without another media report about the American Civil Liberties Union filing suit against the government. It is forever filing action against some municipality displaying what the accuser deems an unacceptable symbol or a claimed unconstitutional position. Even yesterday, the New York Times reported that the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit “seeking to strike down a clause of the USA Patriot Act that bans foreigners who endorse terrorist activity from traveling in this country.”
Yesterday CNSNews.com and most major media outlets also reported on an ACLU intervention in a school dress code issue that ended with the Hasbrouck Heights School in New Jersey agreeing to allow a male student to wear a skirt to school.
On January 17th CNN reported “The American civil Liberties Union filed suit in the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of several journalists, authors, scholars and organizations.” The suit charges wrongdoing by... “The National Security Agency over its no-warrant wiretapping program, claiming the domestic eavesdropping is unconstitutional...”
These lawsuits are but the tip of the iceberg when viewing actions of the ACLU. In just the past two years hundreds of cases have been filed including those in the defense of people who spew obscenity in front of children, attempting to stop libraries from blocking cyber pornography, attacking the Boy Scouts, defending the position of people who refuse to show identification, trying to stop states from requiring welfare recipients to under drug testing, defending the North American Man/Boy Love Association and its right to advocate sex between men and boys and defending the right to have obscene art displayed publicly. Its many suits against the public display of Christian symbols have previously been strongly documented.
What the American public is never told is just how this organization views this country or how it manages to fund most of its litigation.
First of all, America through ACLU eyes is a country that is completely devoid of any worthy or valued positions. To understand the organization’s attitude one must look back to the founders, who in 1920 created the Union. At the heart of its creation were William Z. Foster, Elizabeth Gurley and Louis F. Budenz. The threesome later became prominent leaders within the Communist Party, USA. It was these people who were responsible for building the ACLU core positions. While the heart of the organization was rooted in an atheistic socialist agenda, the publicly voiced pronouncements contained an entirely different message. ACLU leaders were waving the flag, while loudly proclaiming patriotism and the American way. At the same time there was a constant attack on the historical values of the United States.
Today the ACLU does not even list Budenz as one of its original founders. Perhaps this denial came about because he broke with the party in later years and became a militant anti-communist.
But, the organization still strongly proclaims itself to be nonprofit and nonpartisan, with more than 400,000 members and supporters. It also claims to receive no government funding. With offices in almost every state it files about 6,000 court cases a year and far more letters to municipalities, and other entities threatening litigation.
The usual mode of attack is to pick small town governments, school boards or other tax supported organizations that fear the tremendous expense of a lengthy debate in the courts. Rather than exhaust their budgets in litigation, those who are threatened cave and concede to ACLU demands.
But, what about those 6,000 court cases being filed each year? Where does the funding come from to take on such extensive legal work? The answer is...right out of your pocket.
For almost thirty years the ACLU has rubbed its hands gleefully as it tapped the government Piggy Bank to cover its attacks on just about everything American. In 1976 The Civil Rights Attorneys Fee Awards Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1988) was passed by Congress and signed into law. Though it was written with the best of intentions, this legislation is another very egregious example of unintended consequences. The purpose of the law was to encourage private attorneys to take on cases to protect civil and constitutional rights. It was not intended to support an organization filing thousands upon thousands of disruptive cases.
The act allows judges the option of ordering federal and state governments to pay legal fees to lawyers who sue the government and win. Though the awarding of fees is optional, virtually all judges, over the past three decades, have signed off on allowing these payments.
Remember, Congress did not insist that judges’ award attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. Section 1988. This part of the law made such action discretionary. Still judges have determined that those attorneys who prevail in litigation should receive attorney fees ...even if there are really no fees being paid to the attorneys. Figured at the market rate, these awards can be well over $300 an hour per individual lawyer. When the ACLU sends in an army of litigators that can be a handsome amount indeed.
In those cases where attorney fees are not paid to the individuals, the tax dollars go directly into the American Civil Liberties Union bank account. This happens because large firms often support the ACLU position pro bono. Also many individual attorneys volunteer as ACLU lawyers. This means in the majority of cases there are really no fees associated with the legal action.
Though there was never a requirement to award these payments, not a single case has been uncovered where the fees were denied. No judge has been found who ever turned down an ACLU request for payment.
What does the tally look like? There is no way to determine this without a complete examination of every case the ACLU has taken to court over the past three decades. A very conservative estimate would be the organization has harvested millions upon millions of your dollars. At the same time you have been given the additional loss of many things you and the nation have valued.
How can this rape of the treasury be stopped? Well, it is an election year. The entire House of Representatives is seeking your votes, along with a third of the Senate. This would be the perfect time to let them all know your votes will got to those who help repeal the Civil Rights Attorneys Fee Awards Act or at least amend it to stop the ACLU from feeding from the public trough at the expense of every American.
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