In the 1981 campaign to kill the program, there was a new twist to an old argument. Critics said then that local legal services programs were the tools of the ideological left, that programs were being directed by 1960s radicals forcing their agenda through class action lawsuits and politically motivated litigation. Opponents charge that legal services programs are destructive to the community, more concerned with defending drug dealers than with cleaning up inner-city housing projects. Most recently, it is said that the programs attempt to thwart the political winds of change by opposing welfare reform, so popular among the American people. Lawyers know the truth.
Lawyers know that what local legal services programs really provide is hope, dignity and compassion.
There were 250,000 improper farm foreclosures by the Federal Housing Administration in the last decade. Yes, legal services lawyers have offended many. Because of their success, the LSC will continue to be under siege. There are those on Capitol Hill who would strip the Legal Services Corp. of any funding in favor of block grants directly to states. Yet even under ideal conditions, block grants would provide for fewer resources than are necessary to meet even the baseline of legal services to the poor.