Last week, I alerted you to
the startling cuts Republicans have proposed for the Legal Services Corporation, which distributes funds to local agencies providing civil legal services for the poor. Well, apparently Republicans are serious about cutting LSC funding by as much as
26 percent, and as the
National Law Journal reports today
the consequences would be devastating:
In California, where migrant workers rely on free services to handle housing and employment disputes, the head of California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. said cuts under consideration in Washington would force him to close offices and take at least 3,000 fewer cases a year.
In central Florida, where unemployment and foreclosure rates are above the national average, the legal services organization faces the possibility of losing staff, in addition to the recent elimination of four attorney positions. And in New Jersey, federal cuts would compound the loss of state money announced just two weeks ago, forcing management to reconsider the kinds of cases they accept.
"How do you choose between, for example, somebody who's being evicted and someone who's the victim of domestic violence? And yet those are the kinds of choices we have," said Melville "De" Miller Jr., president of Legal Services of New Jersey. "None of them are satisfactory. They all deny equal access to justice."
Miller said his state had 720 legal services workers at the beginning of 2008, but the number has since dropped to 490 and will likely continue to fall. An array of other cuts are under consideration, he said: closing offices, restricting the types of cases handled and lowering the income ceiling to be eligible for services.
The article suggests that LSC is being singled out, as "the proposed 26% cut to LSC is much deeper than the 6% cut to all programs that fall within Wolf's subcommittee. Those programs include such popular initiatives as the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Commerce Department trade promotion. Wolf and his office did not respond to four interview requests about the budget plan."
But why? A March 2011 in-depth report from NLJ demonstrates all the good these services provide, such as this story from West Virginia:
The first time that Liz Morgan Hitt's husband hit her was the last, she said. She packed a U-Haul with her belongings and fled.
She was penniless, jobless and sick. One of her lungs had been removed seven months earlier, her cancer deemed terminal.
... "All I wanted back was what I put into [the house]," she said. "But the judge kept saying that the money wasn't there, that I made a 'bad investment.' " At one point, the judge indicated that her ex-husband would get to keep the house, and Morgan Hitt would walk away empty-handed.
[Her attorney] Ryan Poe-Gavlinski was able to convince the judge that such an arrangement was fundamentally unfair. ... In May 2010, Poe-Gavlinski secured alimony payments for her client totaling $9,600 — unusual under West Virginia law, where marriages typically must last for at least 10 years before the court will consider alimony, she said. That wasn't all. Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, Morgan Hitt was unable to continue working as a mail carrier. "I was going through so much at that time. I'd lost my lung, and I'd lost my job," she said. She also lost her health insurance — she'd been covered by her ex-husband's policy through his employer.
She was eligible to retain coverage under COBRA, but never received the paperwork. By the time she did, she was told she'd missed the deadline to sign up and was denied. Poe-Gavlinski helped her write a successful letter of protest, allowing her to get health insurance. The alimony meant she could afford the $400 monthly premium. "If it hadn't have been for legal aid, I would have been without health insurance," Morgan Hitt said.
These aren't political cases. Indeed, in 1996 Republicans introduced restrictions preventing programs receiving LSC funding from engaging in lobbying, bringing or participating in class-action lawsuits, representing those who are not U.S. citizens, soliciting clients in person, and litigating on cases involving abortions, redistricting, prisoners and the like. Heck, LSC programs cannot claim, collect and retain attorneys' fees, regardless of the funding source or other statutory provisions.
There is bipartisan support that's out there, and we need to reach out to reasonable people across the political spectrum to make the case.
What you can do: There was a roll call vote in February in which 170 Republicans tried to end legal aid funding altogether. If you're represented by one of them, it might not be worth your time to call.
But if you're represented by one of the 61 Republicans or 189** remaining Democrats who supported Legal Services Corporation then, then please call your Representative at 1-800-962-3524, ask to speak to his or her legislative director, and be clear and polite: whatever else needs cutting, Legal Services Corporation funding should not be cut.