Within the swirl of political activity of 2017 lay yet another attack on the Legal Services Corp., the federal agency that serves as the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans. President Donald Trump’s budget called for elimination of funding for the LSC, which would have devastating effects on indigent clients who already face significant obstacles in obtaining equal access to justice.

While similar efforts to defund the LSC in the early 1980s and in the mid-1990s failed in the face of bipartisan support for LSC, the federal budget for fiscal year 2018 is still under debate, and the ultimate fate of LSC remains uncertain. Most recently, in October 2017, the Senate passed a House budget resolution which continues to call for the elimination of LSC. The corresponding report contains the following troubling language advocating for the elimination of the LSC: