Legal Aid

The Bill of Rights was not written to make things easy for the police. Trained law enforcement personnel are obligated to know the law and are trained to know they may not violate the Constitutional rights of American citizens. Citizens, typically untrained in the law, are not obligated to know when their civil rights have been violated. So, when a citizen’s civil rights are violated by police, the citizen has the right (and the obligation) to sue for damages, once he learns his rights have been violated.

In America today citizens have to fight for their civil rights- law enforcement feels little obligation to protect them. In their persecution of crime they feel entirely justified to lie, break the laws themselves, frame, entrap and railroad. America is becoming ever more of a Police State and a Prison Nation. Law enforcement is seen increasingly more as predator than protector.

They refuse to honor the Constitution’s commitment that the government supply a competent attorney to represent the citizen, free of charge. Instead, the court appointed attorney is hired with the understanding that he is to encourage the defendant to plead guilty- and they are successful 96% of the time. Then, after it’s all over they try to charge the client for this “service”. They require unreasonable bail. They do unreasonable searches and seizures. The eincarcerate people for six months or more without filing changes, keep them in solitary confinement in the dark for months. They trick people into self-incrimination. They bully the citizenry into subjugation with threats- and most people submit without an argument. Demanding one’s rights is very expensive, and the legal cost is beyond the reach of the average person.

The New Libertarians hopes to be able to facilitate citizens to demand their constitutional rights, sue to secure them- and profit from it. Using the model of the ACLU, (which in recent years has lost its original Constitutional impetus, and now specializes in a very narrow range of easily winnable cases, typically settled without a trial) we will try to facilitate young and ambitious Constitutional lawyers trying to make a name for themselves, clients who have been deprived of their legitimate Constitutional Rights and ourselves to pursue these cases, share equally in the proceeds derived from these cases.

We will also use these cases to raise money to launch retroactive class action suits, and encourage Citizens to join them. We may include questions in our polls, whether you feel you have suffered violations of your civil rights and wish to be a party to such a class-action lawsuit.

Much of the Liberty Blog is devoted to this pursuit. We will also seek to get referendums on ballots to address some of these issues. State laws are often unconstitutional, but persist for lack of anyone challenging them because the cost of pursuing them far outweighs the profit in winning. That’s why class actions are so important- they provide a strong deterrent to state overreach. Money talks.

If you feel that your Constitutional Rights have been violated by law enforcement, or government agencies- you may explain the circumstance as fully as possible and honestly- to us. We will post your story to our network- and hopefully a lawyer in our network will be interested in representing you. If we can create this “match”, and you prevail- we will share in the proceeds equally- after expenses.

Lawyers of this type typically prefer out-of-town cases- because they often face retaliation in their own home towns if they take such cases locally. Finding someone to represent you in your own community can be a challenge. That’s the value we add to the equation.

If you lose, you will have got competent defense you would not have had otherwise free of charge, and your lawyer’s expenses will be split between you and your lawyer. We hope there will be enough of these lawsuits that law enforcement city and state legislatures adopt a more respectful attitude to the Bill of Rights, and all citizens will benefit.

The Constitution and the Bill or Rights are the Founders’ legacy, but we need to be eternally vigilant in their defense. The forces of hubris in our leaders and laziness in our legal structures need to be counteracted by brave citizens willing to stand up for all our rights.