Back to article list

BILL WOULD STOP ACLU FROM RECOVERING LEGAL FEES IN CHURCH-STATE CASES
  by MONTANA NEWS ASSOCIATION

By Jenni Parker
January 31, 2007

(OneNewsNow.com) - On January 29, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) reintroduced the Public Expressions of Religion Act, a bill that would prevent activist groups from using a 1970s civil rights law to recover attorney's fees when they sue local cities and towns in cases having to do with public displays of faith and religion.

Under current law, legal activists groups recover big money from state and local governments, based on a provision of the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney Fees Awards Act, which was intended to help underprivileged plaintiffs secure legal representation in civil rights cases. If, however, a legal activist group wins a lawsuit related to the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause -- that is, related to the so-called "separation of church and state" -- the Civil Rights Attorney Fees Awards Act entitles the group to compensation for costs incurred in litigation of the case.

But Brownback, a Senate Judiciary Committee member, feels taxpayers should not have to foot the legal bill for groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. A Standard Newswire report quotes him as stating that "many small towns comply with the demands of the ACLU rather than risk going to trial and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to the ACLU if they lose the case."

The legislation the senator introduced Monday "would still allow plaintiffs with legitimate claims to have their day in court," Brownback says. "However, it would prevent local cities and towns from being coerced into settling claims out of a fear of huge monetary losses."