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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 go 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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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.

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