Who’s in Charge, Anyway – A Proposal for Community-Based Legal Services (with Raymond H. Brescia and Robin Golden)

Abstract

For over one hundred years, some of our country's most dedicated lawyers have struggled to provide legal services to poor people. The road has not been an easy one. Richard Nixon vetoed a legal services bill over the issue of presidential appointments, then signed the Legal Services Corporation Act just before resigning. Nixon's Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, was a vocal opponent of federally- funded legal services. Ronald Reagan submitted eight consecutive budgets seeking to eliminate all federal funding for the Legal Services Corporation ("LSC"). Simultaneously, he appointed a hostile LSC board of directors. Bill Clinton's election, however, brought new hope to advocates. Hillary Clinton is a former president of the LSC Board. The early Clinton budgets included an increase in LSC funding, but they were countered dramatically by the severe cuts and restrictions imposed by the 1994 Republican-controlled Congress.