NEW: ACLU Wants Cranston to Pay Up in Prayer Saga
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Following up a federal court’s decision earlier this month finding unconstitutional the display of a prayer mural in Cranston High School West’s auditorium, Rhode Island ACLU attorneys have today asked the court to award $173,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs for their successful work on the case. Federal law gives prevailing plaintiffs in constitutional cases like this the right to recover their attorneys’ fees from the defendants, in this instance the City of Cranston and school committee.
Before deciding to move forward with the case to maintain the prayer in the auditorium, school committee officials were made aware that they could be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees if they lost a legal challenge. And at least one national organization that the school district had consulted about assisting in defense of the lawsuit declined because, in the words of the school district’s attorney, “they don’t feel that it’s a winnable case.” By a 4-3 vote, the school committee nonetheless decided to defend the display in court.
“The Cranston School Committee was fully informed from the beginning that a decision to move forward with this case would likely result in the payment of attorney’s fees if they were not successful,” said RI ACLU executive director Steven Brown. “In fact, in an attempt to avoid the costs of litigation and spare the taxpayers, we waited eight months before filing suit in the hope that this matter could be informally resolved. Despite those efforts, the school committee voted to mount a vigorous defense of the prayer in court, leading to today’s filing.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSince the court issued its decision finding the prayer mural a violation of the First Amendment, the ACLU’s 16-year-old plaintiff, Jessica Ahlquist, has faced a barrage of threats and hate mail. The school committee has not yet decided whether it will appeal the court ruling. If it files an appeal and the decision is affirmed, the school committee will be required to pay the ACLU attorneys’ additional fees for handling the appeal. Any fees awarded in the case will go to the ACLU and its volunteer attorneys, not Jessica, who is entitled to a total of $25 in damages.
