A host of nonprofits have filed a friend of the court brief supporting legal service programs’ right to use private funds without government restrictions in a constitutional challenge currently under consideration in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The amicus brief argues that a requirement of separate facilities for separately funded activities is unduly burdensome and unnecessary. In December 2004 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York struck down application of a 1996 rule imposing restrictions on Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funds on private funding of legal aid groups. The judge denied the plaintiffs' challenge to the restrictions on direct LSC funding.