The act is designed to make it harder for persons or classes of persons to sue public entities for using public funds to display religious objects by prohibiting them from seeking attorneys' fees if the suit is successful. The House Judiciary Committee, in other words, is looking the other way from a bill that a) encourages the establishment of a kind of public religion and b) singles out a class of persons as excluded from constitutional protections, from the right to sue to equal protection under the law.
Just brilliant. :eyes::
http://www.aclu.org/religion/gen/26694prs20060907.htmlThe American Civil Liberties Union today expressed its dismay as the House Judiciary Committee approved H.R. 2679, the “Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005″ (PERA). The bill would bar the recovery of attorneys’ fees to those who win lawsuits asserting their fundamental constitutional and civil rights in cases brought under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
“If PERA were to pass, Congress would isolate and discourage enforcement of a specific piece of our Bill of Rights,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “PERA advocates are seriously misguided in their claim of defending religious freedom. This legislation would in fact weaken the very freedom they claim to be protecting. We are deeply disappointed in the committee’s decision to allow PERA to come to a vote.”