Daylight Atheism has a very disturbing post today about new legislation that puts us further on the road to an Evangelical Christian Government:

In a worrying development for every citizen concerned about protecting state-church separation, the so-called “Public Expression of Religion Act” passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week on a largely party-line vote of 244 to 173. Sponsored by Republican representative John Hostettler, this bill’s purpose is to make it too expensive for private citizens and public interest groups to sue the government to compel it to cease actions which violate the Constitution.

With the law as it exists now, plaintiffs who sue the government for unconstitutionally establishing religion, and win in court, can force defendants to reimburse them for the costs of their attorneys’ fees. This is eminent common sense: American citizens who prove that the government has violated the law should not have to pay for the privilege. The burden of costs should be on the defendant who acted unconstitutionally. This is a sound and rational measure to discourage government officials from seeking to violate the Constitution and to encourage citizens to take an active role in safeguarding the law of the land. Furthermore, this is an important safeguard because litigation is expensive: a lengthy case can easily run into the hundreds of thousands or even the millions of dollars, especially with multiple rounds of appeals. For instance, the recent anti-intelligent design decision Kitzmiller v. Dover cost the plaintiffs over $2 million in attorneys’ fees, and this case was not even appealed to the Supreme Court.