Christian Nationalist Legislation Would Bar Awards of Attorneys Fees

This is a PERFECT example of the Christian Nationalist (those who believe America is a Christian nation) and dominionist movements' work in congress to undermine seperation powers of the Constitution, including ammendments.

By a perverse reading of the Constitution, dominionists--those who believe they have a mandate from God to hold dominion over all human institutions until the Second Coming--are undermining the secular Constitution with dribs and drabs of legislation that would create defacto inability for certain of the legal protections in place to be enjoined. In other words, until they can appoint enough Supreme Court judges to interpret the Constitution from the Christian National point of view (as does Scalia--see Damon Pinker's The Theocons) they will simply disable all the components necessary to use the Constitutional ammendment or clause they wish to see abolished. In their case it is every protection FROM religious intervention in any and all governmental affairs. In short--the freedom from and separation from government--and religion.

Undermining Consitutional protections for minorities is the utmost in so-called anti-American "activist" intervention. When will the politicians undertaking this course be called out for being "traitors"?

URGENT: House of Representatives will Vote on Bill THIS TUESDAY to Bar Awards of Attorneys Fees in ALL Establishment Clause Cases: "On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to debate legislation which would undermine a critical enforcement mechanism that has safeguarded rights and liberties of Americans for more than a century. The Public Expression of Religion Act (H.R. 2679) would gut the longstanding availability of plaintiffs in Establishment Clause cases – and only those cases – to gain their attorneys fees and costs when they prevail in court.

The federal law making attorneys fees available to plaintiffs in constitutional and civil rights cases has never been limited. Even worse, Congress has never attempted to target specific constitutional rights for attack by limiting attorneys fees in cases involving those rights. Our opponents are going on the offensive with a legislative attack designed to slam the courthouse door on all Establishment Clause plaintiffs, including religious minorities. As a result, this is an extremely important, precedent-setting vote on a bill that directly attacks the central work of Americans United and the fundamental values and freedoms Americans United works so hard to defend.

Enforcement of the Establishment Clause is essential for the defense of religious freedom. The protections of the First Amendment, however, do not enforce themselves. The elimination of the availability of attorneys fees in Establishment Clause cases would deter attorneys from taking these cases – even where the government has acted in direct violation of the Constitution. Plaintiffs would be forced to pay their own legal fees and costs in successful Establishment Clause cases, often totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Few Americans, including religious minorities, can afford these kinds of costs to protect their most basic rights. "