Time for term limits on these folks. THROW THESE DAMN BUMS OUT NOW!

(Pete Yost)

Court bars suit against faith-based plan

President Bush, left, makes remarks on No Child Left Behind reauthorization in the East Room…

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration’s faith-based initiatives got a boost Monday from the Supreme Court: a ruling that ordinary taxpayers cannot sue to stop conferences that help religious charities apply for federal grants.

President Bush called the 5-4 decision “a substantial victory for efforts by Americans to more effectively aid our neighbors in need of help.”

The court blocked a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics against eight Bush administration officials including the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The taxpayers set out “a parade of horribles” they contended could happen, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. None did and “in the unlikely event that any of these executive actions did take place, Congress could quickly step in,” he wrote.
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The taxpayers’ group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc., objected to government conferences in which administration officials encourage religious charities to apply for federal money.
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In dissent, Justice David Souter said the court should have allowed the challenge to proceed.

The majority “closes the door on these taxpayers because the executive branch, and not the legislative branch, caused their injury,” wrote Souter. “I see no basis for this distinction.”

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas would have gone further that the rest of the court, favoring a repudiation of the 1968 decision that in certain instances allows taxpayer lawsuits.

“We had an opportunity today to erase this blot on our jurisprudence, but instead have simply smudged it,” Scalia wrote.

Story at Yahoo! News