Just more WoW: ACORN Sues Over 'Unconstitutional' Funding Cuts By Congress

[PocketProtector]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...cuts-congress/

ACORN Sues Over 'Unconstitutional' Funding Cuts By Congress

by Joseph Abrams

, FOXNews.com

In an attempt to regain the millions in funding it lost in the wake of a hidden-camera scandal, ACORN is suing the federal government over congressional legislation that cut off funding to the community organizing group.



Representatives for ACORN sued the federal government Thursday morning in an attempt to regain the millions of dollars in funding the community organizing group lost after filmmakers videotaped its workers offering advice on how to commit tax fraud and various other felonies.

The suit charges Congress with violating the Constitution when it passed legislation in September that specifically targeted ACORN to lose federal housing, education and transportation funds.

That qualifies the legislation as bills of attainder, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the suit on behalf of ACORN. A bill of attainder punishes a person or group without the benefit of a trial, and is illegal under Article 1 of the Constitution.

Bills of attainder have traditionally been understood to have more serious legal consequences -- including the seizure of private property and even capital punishment -- than Congress' decision to withhold funds that are at its discretion to disseminate. Though members of Congress have accused ACORN of corruption, it is not clear how the exercise of its own prerogative is outside the bounds of legislative power.

Congress began cracking down on its funding to ACORN after its employees were secretly videotaped in a number of cities offering to help a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute to lie to the IRS and acquire illegal home loans.

Footage showed staffers advising the "pimp" and "prostitute" on how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 "very young" girls from El Salvador that the pair said they wanted to bring to the country to work as child prostitutes. The videos set off a firestorm in Congress.

ACORN pledged an internal inquiry and fired the staffers who were caught on tape, but it was only the latest of many legal troubles for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

State investigators raided ACORN offices in Louisiana last week, seizing computer hard drives and documents in a probe of alleged embezzlement and tax fraud. Staffers in multiple states have been accused of committing voter registration fraud.

Congress took the "prostitute" videos as clear evidence of systematic problems within ACORN and voted with bipartisan support in the House and Senate to freeze funding for the group in appropriations bills in September.

Thursday's lawsuit claims that Congress violated the right to due process enshrined in the Fifth Amendment -- declaring the group guilty of a crime and punishing its members without completing an investigation within the Department of Justice or the IRS.

"It's not the job of Congress to be the judge, jury, and executioner," said Jules Lobel, an attorney representing the Center for Constitutional Rights.

"We have due process in this country, and our Constitution forbids lawmakers from singling out a person or group for punishment without a fair investigation and trial."

The lawsuit itself singles out three defendants -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; Director of the Office of Management and the Budget Peter Orszag, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

The three were responsible for facilitating the defunding of ACORN by Congress, according to attorneys for the Center for Constitutional Rights.

ACORN claims it has been badly hurt by the congressional actions, and has had to fire workers and close some of its 1,200 branches around the country.

Though it remains unclear precisely how much money the national organization was receiving from federal sources and aid programs, a lawyer pressing the suit said ACORN has already lost an amount "in the millions" since the freeze took effect.

[autotech6506]

Do they realize that this will only force the government to look even deeper into how their operation is running? Don't they realize that will be bad for them?

[PocketProtector]

No doubt the fix is in.

[ChamberedRound]

Do they realize that this will only force the government to look even deeper into how their operation is running? Don't they realize that will be bad for them?

I say let them go, and give them just enough rope to hang themselves.

[dc dalton]

This is a joke, right?

I mean how fucking stupid can these people be? They actually think they are going to find a judge that will say the federal government MUST fund community crap like this? I DON'T THINK SO.

Just another waste of taxpayer dollars, fending off bullshit lawsuits like this.

[adymond]

This is a joke, right?

I mean how fucking stupid can these people be? They actually think they are going to find a judge that will say the federal government MUST fund community crap like this? I DON'T THINK SO.

Just another waste of taxpayer dollars, fending off bullshit lawsuits like this.

I was going to post "Just where in the Constitution does it say ACORN is entitled to MY money?", but seeing your post I have to say something else.

Dave,

I really, honesty, sincerely hope you are right. Sadly I fear you may be off the mark. There are plenty of leftist activist judges who would do anything to promote social justice.

The more I read and the more I think about what I am reading I hope we can hold out until I have my retreat stocked and fortified.

[BSH]

Shouldn't the Center for Constitutional Rights be suing over giving funding to Acorn in the first place? And to stop the health care bill?

[mikepro8]

nuisance lawsuit.
it shouldnt even be heard.

[Swarner793]

I believe the gist of the suit is that it is singling ACORN out from all the other organizations that do the same thing. I think this should be taken as an opportunity to evaluate ALL of these organizations and the constitutioanlity thereof. Stop funding these inept, wasteful Non-Profits once and for all.

Lots of these .org are doing the work that your Representatives, and their Offices, should be doing anyway, such as connecting people in need with appropriate and available programs. Having these agenda driven entities involved is absolutely ludicrous and, inevitably, leads to abuse.

Obviously they will not do away with them, the least they can do is have their funding sunset every budget and compel them to show the necessity of their being, after an audit, of course

Be safe (and as it turns out the seed of hope and change turned out to be a bunch of nuts).

Scott

[PocketProtector]

I believe the gist of the suit is that it is singling ACORN out from all the other organizations that do the same thing. I think this should be taken as an opportunity to evaluate ALL of these organizations and the constitutioanlity thereof. Stop funding these inept, wasteful Non-Profits once and for all.

Lots of these .org are doing the work that your Representatives, and their Offices, should be doing anyway, such as connecting people in need with appropriate and available programs. Having these agenda driven entities involved is absolutely ludicrous and, inevitably, leads to abuse.

Obviously they will not do away with them, the least they can do is have their funding sunset every budget and compel them to show the necessity of their being, after an audit, of course

Be safe (and as it turns out the seed of hope and change turned out to be a bunch of nuts).

Scott

In the Statists mind this is probably reason to refund them....