One of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate believes that a system in which the loser pays in civil suits would go a long way to dissuade organizations like the ACLU from intimidating Christians and conservative groups.
As reported earlier by OneNewsNow, American Civil Liberties Union attorneys recently pressured a North Carolina school district to allow an anti-military group known as North Carolina Peace Action to distribute information to high school students about alternatives to joining the military. The Wilkes County School Board had denied the group's leader Sally Farrell access, with the superintendent labeling her activities "unpatriotic." But the ACLU says it reached a settlement with school officials to allow her the same campus access as military recruiters. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) recently released his new book Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America's Slide into Socialism. He describes the ACLU as one of the most destructive organizations in the country today. "They've done a lot of harm," he states bluntly. "They're the group that constantly attacks the Boy Scouts for having 'God' in their pledge and wanting to set their own standards. The ACLU uses the threat of lawsuits and the cost of those lawsuits to back down school boards. They can drag people into court [and] they have a whole lot of power as attorneys to intimidate people." So DeMint argues there needs to be tort reform. "I just think we need to change our laws to create a 'loser pay' system, so that if they sue someone and lose, the defendants get...their court costs back," says the lawmaker. "That would make [the ACLU] a little more hesitant when they go out and try to attack those who are doing anything that's faith-related in our culture." DeMint says under the current system, cash-strapped communities and school systems know that even if they win they cannot recover the thousands of dollars they used to defend themselves.
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