Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the expenditures and activities of the Constitutional Law Center (CLC) to determine: (1) whether CLC funds, staff, and equipment had been used for partisan political purposes; (2) the nature and extent of the services CLC has provided to Legal Services Corporation (LSC) grant recipients and clients and its planned activities; and (3) whether CLC funds, staff, and equipment had been used to assist the operations of the Center for the Judicial Studies (CJS), an organization that the CLC executive director also heads.
GAO found: (1) no record of CLC financial contributions to the executive director's political campaign and, according to the director, no staff or equipment were used for his political campaign; (2) CLC provided assistance in 14 instances, 2 of which were for LSC grant recipients, and is behind schedule in completing the work stipulated in its grant; and (3) CLC and CJS maintain agreements for renting space, leasing a vehicle, and sharing the use of other property each owns, and two part-time CLC employees also work for CJS.
