The National Law Journal reports:
Dozens of public interest legal organizations have been hit financially by the collapse of Bernie Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme and are scrambling to make up the shortfalls . . .
The JEHT Foundation, which gave away $24 million last year, mostly to criminal justice advocacy and reform organizations, announced on Dec. 15 that it would be closing its doors in early 2009 . . .
Some of the biggest hits were taken by the ACLU, whose current grant is $680,000; Brandeis University’s International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, whose current grant is $600,000 . . .
The Center for Constitutional Rights, halfway through a $300,000 grant, was devastated by the news . . .
The American Spectator reports:
. . . The giant Picower Foundation had the misfortune to choose Madoff to manage its more than $1 billion in assets.
The charity has given away more than $189 million since 1999.
A sizeable chunk of its funding has gone to abortion groups, including NARAL ($3.2 million), Center for Reproductive Rights ($2.5 million), Planned Parenthood ($2.4 million), and Center for Reproductive Law and Policy ($625,000).
Picower Foundation gave $2.9 million to the Southern Poverty Law Center . . .
