The Honorable Howard L. Berman, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property
House Judiciary Committee
Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representatives Smith and Berman:

On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and its hundreds of thousands of members, activists, and fifty-three affiliates nationwide, we write to encourage you to cosponsor H.R. 435, the Equal Access to Justice Reform Act. It would provide important protections to persons seeking redress of civil rights or civil liberties violations caused by the federal government.

Congress enacted the Equal Access to Justice Act in 1980 as a means of ensuring both individuals and organizations the right to effective counsel in vindicating important civil rights and civil liberties protections. The protections enumerated in the U.S. Constitution and provided in federal civil rights statutes are the most important sources of legal rights for liberty and equality. And those protections extend to include a prohibition against the federal government itself violating the civil rights and civil liberties of individuals or organizations. The purpose of the Equal Access to Justice Act is to provide the resources for aggrieved persons to afford legal counsel to compel the federal government to abide by the Constitution and the civil rights laws.

Although the Equal Access to Justice Act has been an important step in providing such counsel, the statue has several significant limitations and has been curtailed further by court decisions narrowly interpreting the rights provided by the statute. H.R. 435 corrects these problems, and thereby helps ensure that individuals and organizations can secure their rights. Specifically, H.R. 435 would eliminate the “substantial justification” defense that often allows the federal government to avoid paying legal fees to successful litigants; eliminates hourly rate caps on legal fees, which are far below market rates, and expands the definition of “prevailing party” to include litigants who successfully obtain out-of-court settlements against the federal government or who otherwise trigger the federal government’s compliance with the law.

The ACLU believes that the Equal Access to Justice Reform Act will help bring further accountability to the federal government. Particularly as the federal government accrues greater power over more aspects of the lives and liberties of the people in this country, it is imperative that persons who believe that their civil rights or civil liberties have been violated can have meaningful access to the courts. H.R. 435 would be critical to obtaining access to legal remedies, and we thus urge you to cosponsor this legislation.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Sincerely,

Caroline Fredrickson                
Director           

LaShawn Warren
Legislative Counsel

Cc. Members of the House Judiciary Committee