Ethics

AU Protests Unconstitutional Earmarks

By Ed Brayton

Americans United has sent a letter to the Attorney General and several cabinet officers detailing a series of earmarks passed by Congress and signed into law by the president as part of larger appropriations bills that may violate the establishment clause. Among the earmarks they are challenging:

A $47,000 Justice Department grant to several Teen Challenge, Albany, N.Y., programs, including one called "Rock the Block." That program, according to Teen Challenge, is intended to bring "the life-changing message of salvation through Jesus Christ to the city streets." Teen Challenge's Web site notes that this program includes religious activities, such as altar calls and distribution of Bibles and "salvation cards."

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on February 28, 2008 (boomark / email).