Dana Cody, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation, recently filed a lawsuit with the California Supreme Court asking for a writ of mandate blocking the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee set up by Proposition 71 to raise and spend $3 billion in bond money on medical research from doing so.

The California Supreme Court declined to take jurisdiction in the case, instead suggesting that the plaintiffs file their suit in Superior Court.

Such a suit was filed today, April 6, 2005, in Alameda County Superior Court, by Ms. Cody on behalf of the People's Advocate, a public interest organization whose CEO is Ted Costa.

Mr. Costa spoke a few days ago with California Politics Today about this suit. You can hear his comments, in their entirety, by clicking here.

You can also hear additional comments on this case by the attorney filing it, Ms. Cody, by clicking here.

To listen to previous audio interviews with Ms. Cody about this case, click on the date of the interview: March 23, 2005, February 28, 2005, February 26, 2005.

Click here to access an interview with Calvin Massey, Professor of Law at Hastings College in San Francisco, in which he discusses the "plain" and "in practice" meaning of Article 16, Section 3, of the California Constitution, which provides that:

"No money shall ever be appropriated or drawn from the State Treasury for the purpose or benefit of any corporation, association, asylum, hospital, or any other institution not under the exclusive management and control of the State as a state institution, nor shall any grant or donation of property ever be made thereto by the State…"

In that interview, Professor Massey makes the point that, in practice, organizations spending public money from the State of California for a "public benefit" are exempt from the plain meaning of Article 16, Section 3, of the California Constitution.