Christic Institute
 Christic Institute     | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Successor | Romero Institute |
| Formation | 1980 |
| Founder | •  Daniel Sheehan• Sara Nelson • Bill Davis |
| Extinction | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Washington DC |
| Interests | The Enterprise, US Deep state, CIA drug trafficking, Iran Contra |
| A public interest law firm that exposed some operation of the US deep state. | |
The Christic Institute was a US non-profit law firm that took legal action against the US Deep state under racketeering law.
Cases
The group represented victims of the nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island. It also prosecuted members of the KKK and American Nazi Party for the murder of communist workers party demonstrators in the 1979 Greensboro Massacre.
Iran Contra
In 1988 the Christic Institute accused General John Singlaub, General John Poindexter, General Richard Secord, Ted Shackley, Albert Hakim and Lt. Col. Oliver North of cooperating with Columbian drug cartels during the Iran Contra affair.[1]
"Frivolous lawsuit"
In 1992 the firm lost its non-profit status after having a federal case dismissed by the court in 1988 and being penalized for filing a "frivolous lawsuit". The IRS said that the Christic Institute had acted for political reasons. The case was related to journalists injured in relation to "Iran–Contra". The group was succeeded in 1998 by a new firm, the Romero Institute.
Criticism
In the Columbia Journalism Review, Chip Berlet described the Christic Institute as "something of a rarity among advocacy groups: starting out on the left of the political spectrum, over the years it was drawn into the conspiracy theories woven by the radical right."[2]
