Thread: ACLU Challenges Louisiana law..

Good for the ACLU.
No state has any business allocating public funds to specific churches without a requirement to spend the money on secular programs. The two churches mentioned in this lawsuit are not the only ones to receive undirected tax dollars in this budget, but I assume the ACLU just singled them out to make a case. There are others listed on at least pages 277, 278 and 280 of the state budget Bill (HB-1). All appear to simply be cash grants to the churches to do with as they see fit.

This is precisely why there IS a separation of church and state.

ACLU Challenges Louisiana Law Funneling Taxpayer Funds to Favored Churches (8/13/2007)

Group Calls Cash Grants Unconstitutional
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

NEW ORLEANS – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana filed a lawsuit today asking a federal judge to halt the payment of state taxpayer money to two Louisiana churches.

"The government cannot simply choose to subsidize its favorite houses of worship with taxpayer dollars," said Daniel Mach, Director of Litigation for the ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

The state's general appropriations bill, HB1, signed into law last month, unconstitutionally directs taxpayer dollars in the amounts of $100,000 to Stonewall Baptist Church in Bossier City and $20,000 to Shreveport Christian Church. The grants were not subject to any oversight or competitive bidding process, and the bill offers no purpose or justification for the challenged earmarks. According to the ACLU, while the state can, in certain circumstances, provide funding to religious organizations for some programs that provide non-religious social services, the First Amendment squarely bars the government from funneling direct, unrestricted, cash payments to churches.

"The state of Louisiana has a responsibility to spend its taxpayers' money in a lawful manner," said Katie Schwartzmann, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Louisiana. "In this case, none of the requirements is present to allow the funding to pass constitutional muster."

Louisiana residents have long criticized the legislature for using earmarked appropriations bills to fund preferred private entities. The underlying problems of paybacks and slush funds have become increasingly clear following recent reforms that, for the first time, require each earmark to be listed individually. It is now clear that the earmarking process has been hiding unconstitutional efforts to send taxpayer dollars to favored churches for years.

Repeated attempts by the ACLU to learn more about the grants were largely ignored by the state, which refused to respond to several requests for documentation. The ACLU of Louisiana has filed the lawsuit on behalf of itself and its members in an effort to reaffirm the basic constitutional ban on government-funded religious activities.

The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, seeks a court order prohibiting the transfer of taxpayer funds to the churches.

Attorneys on the case are Mach with the national ACLU and Schwartzmann with the ACLU of Louisiana.

A copy of the complaint and related materials can be found online at:
American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU v. Blanco - Complaint
American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU Challenges Louisiana Law Funneling Taxpayer Funds to Favored Churches

Originally Posted by kit

Good for the ACLU.
No state has any business allocating public funds to specific churches without a requirement to spend the money on secular programs. The two churches mentioned in this lawsuit are not the only ones to receive undirected tax dollars in this budget, but I assume the ACLU just singled them out to make a case. There are others listed on at least pages 277, 278 and 280 of the state budget Bill (HB-1). All appear to simply be cash grants to the churches to do with as they see fit.

This is precisely why there IS a separation of church and state.

ACLU Challenges Louisiana Law Funneling Taxpayer Funds to Favored Churches (8/13/2007)

Group Calls Cash Grants Unconstitutional
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

NEW ORLEANS – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana filed a lawsuit today asking a federal judge to halt the payment of state taxpayer money to two Louisiana churches.

"The government cannot simply choose to subsidize its favorite houses of worship with taxpayer dollars," said Daniel Mach, Director of Litigation for the ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

The state's general appropriations bill, HB1, signed into law last month, unconstitutionally directs taxpayer dollars in the amounts of $100,000 to Stonewall Baptist Church in Bossier City and $20,000 to Shreveport Christian Church. The grants were not subject to any oversight or competitive bidding process, and the bill offers no purpose or justification for the challenged earmarks. According to the ACLU, while the state can, in certain circumstances, provide funding to religious organizations for some programs that provide non-religious social services, the First Amendment squarely bars the government from funneling direct, unrestricted, cash payments to churches.

"The state of Louisiana has a responsibility to spend its taxpayers' money in a lawful manner," said Katie Schwartzmann, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Louisiana. "In this case, none of the requirements is present to allow the funding to pass constitutional muster."

Louisiana residents have long criticized the legislature for using earmarked appropriations bills to fund preferred private entities. The underlying problems of paybacks and slush funds have become increasingly clear following recent reforms that, for the first time, require each earmark to be listed individually. It is now clear that the earmarking process has been hiding unconstitutional efforts to send taxpayer dollars to favored churches for years.

Repeated attempts by the ACLU to learn more about the grants were largely ignored by the state, which refused to respond to several requests for documentation. The ACLU of Louisiana has filed the lawsuit on behalf of itself and its members in an effort to reaffirm the basic constitutional ban on government-funded religious activities.

The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, seeks a court order prohibiting the transfer of taxpayer funds to the churches.

Attorneys on the case are Mach with the national ACLU and Schwartzmann with the ACLU of Louisiana.

A copy of the complaint and related materials can be found online at:
American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU v. Blanco - Complaint
American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU Challenges Louisiana Law Funneling Taxpayer Funds to Favored Churches

Totally agree with the move. However what really bugs me is the no bid contracts. It seems like they are taking their cue from the feds on this one when it comes to no bid contracts ala Haliburton, etc or maybe the federal government is taking their cue from LA.:hissy:

Originally Posted by steezer

Totally agree with the move. However what really bugs me is the no bid contracts. It seems like they are taking their cue from the feds on this one when it comes to no bid contracts ala Haliburton, etc or maybe the federal government is taking their cue from LA.:hissy:

Not to hijack my own thread, but you should have seen the result of no-bid contracts in the aftermath of Katrina. Once the President was accused of not caring, the money began to flow in earnest and nobody cared where it went and what it was spent on...just so long as it got spent and made the administration look like it was doing something. The waste was mindboggling.

Here's an example: While I was billeted at the First Baptist Church, Covington, LA, with a Southern Baptist Disaster Relief chainsaw crew (within a week of the storm), I noticed one morning that a tanker truck had been parked at the back of the parking lot for a couple of days. I went over and talked to the driver to find out what was up.

His story blew my mind. He was one of dozens of truck loads of diesel fuel which FEMA had contracted out of NORTHERN CALIFORNIA! The fuel was bought on the spot market; the trucks and drivers were leased on short-term contracts (the most expensive) and he was dispatched to Covington to provide diesel fuel for the relief effort. Unfortunately, nobody had bothered to tell us he was coming and he'd just been sitting there waiting for someone to want fuel. That scene was repeated all over the region and there are more examples of waste than there are of actual help. It was incredible.