Wednesday, March 26, 2003

IOLTA

This morning the Supreme Court decided the very important case about "IOLTA" programs, which fund legal services for poor people. (Decision here, AP report here). On its surface the case was about the "takings" clause of the Constitution; below the surface it was ideological warfare about the purposes for which the funds are used. Read my earlier prediction here. Dwight at P.L.A. had a series of great posts about it [UPDATE: here and here, from January) The decision makes me happy in various ways: (1) I think it's right as a matter of constitutional law; (2) I like the consequences of the result (that a right-wing group was thwarted in its attempt to destroy the funding for legal services for poor people); (3) my prediction of affirmance was correct; (4) it might make smartalecky Judge Kozinski, of the Ninth Circuit, more cautious in the future about claiming that everyone who disagrees with him is "ignoring" Supreme Court precedent. (see my prediction linked above for more on #4, in the unlikely event you're interested)

posted by sam 11:12 AM 0 comments

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