,Why the Legal Services Corporation Must be Abolished

Why the Legal Services Corporation Must be Abolished


 

Publication Date: October 2002

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Kenneth F. Boehm; Peter T. Flaherty

Research Area: Justice

Keywords: Legal issues

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Legal Services Corporation cannot be reformed. Because money is fungible in the hands of private groups with more than one funding source, no new restrictions can insure the accountability of taxpayer funds. Most legal problems faced by the poor fall into several basic categories: family, including divorce, custody, guardianship and child support; housing, including landlord/tenant controversies; financial, including bankruptcy, wills, estates, and inability to pay bills; consumer; employment; and public benefits. While taxpayer funds are provided to Legal Services for the handling of individual cases, too great a portion of such funds are used to pursue class action suits and ideologically important test cases.