American Legion Supports Public Expression of Religion Act

Posted on June 2, 2005

More good news! It looks like our nation’s largest veterans organization is throwing in its support for Rep. John Hostettler’s newly proposed Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA),and are urging all Americans to support it!

“The 1976 Civil Rights Attorney’s Fee Awards Act was much needed legislation, but in recent years, certain groups have abused the congressional intent of this public law in ‘Establishment Clause’ lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America, the Ten Commandments, and now veterans’ memorials, ” said Thomas P. Cadmus, National Commander of The American Legion. “And it is time to fix it!”

“Exorbitant attorney fees awarded by Courts to be paid by American taxpayers has become the newest “Sword of Damocles’ strategically employed by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to coerce settlements by cities, counties, states, and large organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and the Department of Defense by suits and threats of lawsuits against any public expression of America’s religious history, heritage, and values,” Cadmus said. “When out of court settlements are more cost effective than the judicial process, then the system is clearly broken.”Source

I couldn’t agree more. The ACLU has taken a law that was meant for good, and turned it on its head. Instead of protecting the poor, as the law was designed to do, the ACLU use it to their advantage as they threaten small schools and communities that can not afford the costs if they lose a battle against the ACLU.

By the way, while “reasonable attorney’s fees” is what it’s called in the statute, the ACLU pockets hundreds of thousands of tax dollars through these cases…$790,000 to stop the Boy Scouts from using Balboa Park in San Diego for a summer camp, for instance.

“Enough is enough!” Cadmus declared. “The American Legion fully supports legislation introduced today by Representative Hostettler, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA). It will remove the chilling effect on constitutionally protected free expression of religion in public areas by ending court-ordered attorney fees, or damages, in Establishment Clause cases ; but only those cases. It does not bar anyone from filing an Establishment Clause lawsuit. It merely follows the general American rule that each party bears its own attorney fees in lawsuits, and removes the threat of court ordered attorney fees or damages in Establishment Clause claims only. No other civil rights claim will be affected by this legislation.”

“The American Legion believes the Public Expression of Religion Act will restore sanity in the judicial process,” Cadmus said. “With this bill, we take a giant step to stop an abuse of the Civil Rights Acts. I thank Rep. Hostettler and urge every member of Congress to sign on as a co-sponsor of this extremely important legislation.”Source

We here at Stop The ACLU also believe this bill is good, and long overdue. Help us fight the ACLU! I have contacted several of the sponsor’s of this bill, and will let you know what I find out once they get back to me. I will do my best to keep you all updated on its status and answer questions you may have on it. I think it is a good thing that we have the American Legions on our side with this one. What an awesome organization they are.

Please contact your representatives supporting this. This is a good way to stop taxpayer funds going to the ACLU.
Sign The Petition To Get The ACLU Off the Taxpayer’s Dole The petition will be headed to Mr.Hostettler in the next few days!

Help us fund a nationwide march on all the ACLU offices nationwide. Shop The Bulldoze The ACLU Store