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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MichaelSkyy who wrote (168294)	6/1/2006 10:11:39 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793868

Notice that the law you cite only pays off when the Plaintiff wins. If it's a sure bet that the Plaintiff will win, and the ACLU will get paid, then the Defendant is clearly in the wrong, and the Defendant pays the legal fees. I've collected on that statute. Not much fun trying a case for nothing, so I only take "slam dunks" but still win some, lose some.

To: MichaelSkyy who wrote (168294)	6/2/2006 12:00:57 PM
From: D. Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793868

The ACLU uses a little known 1976 federal law called the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act to demand reimbursement for its attorney's fees Ahh, see now we get to the root of the notion. The ACLU does not sue governments. People whose Constitutional rights were allegedly violated sue governments, and the ACLU represents them as their legal counsel. The ACLU only takes Constitutional law cases, and that requires an actual dispute for standing - the ACLU can't just sue on some theoretical objection. Generally, Constitutional law issues are resolved by an injunction - no damages to the plaintiff. This makes such cases less than desirable unless the plaintiff is rich. So if Joe Shmoe on the corner thinks he has been wronged, and he has no money, he has to turn to public interest law firms like the ACLU, who do the work for free if the case has merit. The ACLU only takes a very small fraction of the cases it is offered. Of those, an even smaller number actually get litigated. Most claims are settled out of court. Trials are crapshoots. The Utah chapter last year only had something like 3 cases in litigation, one of which was co-representing a defendant against misdemeanor charges for violating an arguably unconstitutional flag ordinance. The chapter's budget is something like 1.8 million. The piddly compensation this statute MAY bestow (big may - remember they only get attorney's fees under the statute if they win at trial, which is a Hail Mary proposition) doesn't even come close to covering the costs of operation. It definitely doesn't cover the costs of representing the clients whose cases don't see the inside of a courtroom, which is the majority of their clients. Derek