People who are poor and struggling economically often have dire civil justice problems: the threat of eviction and homelessness; the prospect of having their families broken up in a child custody hearing; and the struggle to get food stamps and avoid going hungry. It’s almost impossible for these individuals and families to defend their rights without having a legal advocate, which the vast majority simply cannot afford.
the deluge of desperate pleas for help — from victims of domestic violence, which is spiking severely; from tenants fighting landlords despite emergency rules that prohibit evictions; and countless people trying desperately to get healthcare that they are entitled to.contains only $50 million of emergency aid for the Legal Services Corp., the nonprofit organization created and funded by Congress to deliver federal money to agencies that provide free legal representation for low-income Americans.
Ninety-five nonprofit legal service providers in California received $37 million in grants. The providers helped keep 4,895 families in their homes, avoiding $19.6 million in emergency-housing costs for clients, and helped obtain 4,874 restraining orders to protect survivors of domestic violence. With 231 orders obtained after hearings, they helped save between $2.9 million and $3.
Not being able to afford a civil lawyer is not a standard measure of inequality, but it should be. The effect on the lives of low-income families and their communities can be long-term and severe. The pandemic’s personal, economic and social wreckage has already magnified this inequality.Tripling the budget of the Legal Services Corp. would be a long-overdue step toward giving the poor a shot at the promise of equal justice.
opinion More money for the poor claptrap. How about a national Go Fund Me?
opinion Nixon Heir Rev Kasey Carroll hit 1000 videos this Sunday filming for International Ministry Online at the US Congress for the vote on the Hero Act. Join our Online Ministry Today!
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opinion the jew bankers needed bailout in 09 It happened at the drop of a hat. Right?
opinion A new study from FAIR finds that providing education, health care, law enforcement, and social and government services to illegalaliens and their dependents costs California taxpayers $25.3 billion a year.
opinion That wasn't covid, that was government.