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Last week's 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a national
program supporting legal aid for the poor is good news. All
50 states use this technique.
The program pools certain funds that lawyers escrow on behalf
of their clients and funnels the interest to support legal
aid for the indigent. The program raises about $160 million
a year, about one sixth of all funds spent each year on legal
aid for the poor. The American Bar Association, the 50 state
chief justices, the National League of Cities and 36 states,
including Colorado, filed briefs supporting the program.
The escrow program was challenged by the Washington Legal
Foundation, which argued that the legal aid funding mechanism
violates the property rights of the clients whose funds are
used to generate the millions of dollars in interest. Just
five years ago, the court ruled 5 4 in a similar case that
such programs were an unconstitutional 'taking' of private
property for public purposes without compensation. This time,
perennial swing vote Sandra Day O'Connor joined in a new majority
to approve the legal aid program.
Given Colorado's fiscal crisis, The Post welcomes the high
court ruling as helping to maintain at least a minimum of
legal services in these trying times.
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