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Advocacy Blog
Friday, April 06, 2007
Supreme Court Asked to Review Restrictions on Private Funds of Legal Aid Programs
The Brennan Center for Justice has released this announcement:
On March 28, 2007, LSC-funded Legal Services for New York City, LSC-funded South Brooklyn Legal Services, and Farmworker Legal Services of New York filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to hear Velazquez/Dobbins v. LSC. The plaintiffs, who are represented by the Brennan Center for Justice, challenge LSC's "physical separation" requirement, 45 CFR 1610.8, which requires LSC-funded legal services programs to establish a physically separate office with separate personnel to spend their non-LSC funds on types of legal representation of which the federal government disapproves. The plaintiffs' challenge initially resulted in the issuance of a preliminary injunction by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The petition to the Supreme Court comes in response to a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit opinion in September 2006 that lifted the District Court's injunction and sent the case back to the District Court for further proceedings. The plaintiffs allege that the Circuit's ruling is contrary to Supreme Court rulings in Rust v. Sullivan, United States v. American Library Association, and Legal Services Corporation v. Velazquez. Based on original reporting by Brennan Center staff.
Posted by Kay Guinane
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