Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507030118
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN D. ROSENTHAL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It appeared as though he was going to be forced into a nursing home or other institutional setting - at considerable additional expense to taxpayers. Then a paralegal working in his local legal-aid office found a program to assist him with weekend care.
Last year, more than 42,000 Virginia families were helped by the state's legal-services program. Staff attorneys helped keep low-income families from losing their homes and ending up on the streets. They assisted people who were victims of home-repair scams and unscrupulous used-car dealers. They stopped illegal collection of excess utility charges for low-income housing residents. They helped single mothers receive the medical assistance their children desperately need to survive.
Unfortunately, this kind of assistance for the poor may soon be a thing of the past for thousands of Virginians each year. Proposals now before Congress would significantly cut or entirely eliminate funding to the Legal Services Corp. over the next two years.
The corporation is a private nonprofit entity that receives federal funds to provide low-income Americans access to the legal system through local, civil legal-aid programs. The act establishing the corporation, signed in 1975 by President Nixon, envisioned a program that would be "a permanent and vital part of the American system of justice."
Currently, the LSC receives $400 million annually, and supports 323 legal-services centers across the nation. Thirteen local centers make available critically needed legal assistance to 800,000 residents of the Old Dominion who qualify for it.
These are individuals or families who cannot afford a lawyer. Without representation, they would be helpless in the face of many injustices, and the consequences of their legal problems will be more severe than they would be otherwise. This is a problem not only for them but for society, which often must provide greater assistance in the long run than if the problem had been addressed at an earlier stage.
If our goal is less government bureaucracy and increased personal independence for every American citizen, regardless of income, LSC and the legal-aid programs it funds help accomplish this every day with scant resources, about $2 in federal taxes annually per taxpayer.
The national LSC is one of the most efficiently run federal programs in existence, using only 3 percent of its budget for administrative costs. State legal-services programs are equally, if not more, efficient operations.
In addition, the program helps to leverage and utilize the volunteer services of numerous private attorneys in the state. Working with their local Legal Services Program, these volunteer attorneys represent some of the poor people who need legal help in civil cases.
If Congress cuts funding to LSC, these programs will have to lay off attorneys and support staff, and close offices. State and local governments are not likely to seek out a greater role for funding legal-aid programs than they already have in today's tight fiscal environment. If the federal budget for other programs is slashed, competition for limited funds will be even more fierce on the local level. Nor is private funding available to replace cuts of this magnitude.
The result of these cuts will be disastrous for the poor in Virginia. As it is, there is only one legal-aid attorney for every 7,000 potential clients. A recent study found that only 16 percent of the legal needs of the poor were being met. In fact, for every case settled by a legal-aid lawyer in the Old Dominion, another meritorious case was turned down for lack of resources.
More than 200 years ago, the founders of our nation attempted in the preamble to the Constitution to state their rationale for forming our new nation. It is no accident that the first reason given was "to establish justice." In the rush to cut the federal budget, we run the risk of forgetting that justice is not simply another government entitlement- it is the historic mandate of a free society. Or, in the words of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, "It is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status."
Stephen D. Rosenthal was attorney general of Virginia from January 1993 until January 1994.
Virginia Forum
by CNB