The Legal Services Corporation bill working its way through the processes of congressional creation is still, after a number of changes, a disaster—a power grab by liberals, with funding to be supplied by the Federal Government. A few conservatives may accept the bill in its current form, but they have only been reading the label—equal justice under the law—not examining the contents. By “equal justice” the supporters really mean “free justice” which sounds good. But justice itself is already an elusive concept; making it free won’t help us attain it.
The basic objection to the Legal Services Corporation bill is that the power of purchase is vested in the provider, i.e., the project attorney with a guaranteed annual salary, rather than in the consumer, the client. The attorneys, and the board that runs the corporation, will almost inevitably be activist liberals who will use government funds to promote their own causes—after picking the appropriate clients: gay liberation, women’s rights, antiwar activitism, abortion, lobbying, and a host of other causes which are, at the very least, controversial. Not that there is anything un-American about controversy, but why should the taxpayer have to subsidize lawsuits against himself?
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