http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29436.htmlA non-profit organization filed a lawsuit against the federal government Thursday morning, seeking to overturn a law stopping the flow of federal funds to ACORN.
The suit, filed in federal court in New York, claims that bills passed by the House and Senate to defund the group qualify as bills of attainder, legislation that unfairly targets one group. Such bills are unconstitutional.
The suit will seek to restore funding and roll-back the ban, which was passed as part of the legislative branch appropriations bill in September.
ACORN claims that the legislation was of “malicious and punitive intent.” The suit also claims Congress violated the Fifth Amendment by skirting due process before doling out the punishment of the funding cut. OMB Director Peter Orszag and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are listed as co-defendants in the suit.
Efforts to defund ACORN became popular among Democrats and Republicans after conservative activists caught the organization’s employees in several offices advising actors posing as a politician and his prostitute girlfriend on how to evade taxes and set up a brothel.
Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and others in Congress quickly moved to ensure no federal funds were steered to the group – measures that got support from even the most ardent liberals like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
The lawsuit, which was brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights, says that ACORN has been subject to “heavily funded and orchestrated political campaigns.”
But this effort represents a complete reversal from ACORN, which emphasized to reporters and the public that the money it received from the federal government was not essential to its existence.
Now the group is taking a bold step to restore its federal funding by accusing Congress of violating the Constitution.
The court filing claims ACORN has been bruised badly by the legislation. It says it has had to lay off employees, close offices and “drastically” reduce services.
But the complaint also offers a small peak into and how much ACORN truly relies on the government for money. It cites FEMA pulling back roughly $1 million in funding for fire safety assessments after the legislation passed. The filing also shows that the organization lost out on a $780,000 EPA grant to educate poor communities about asthma and a separate grant to set up public computer centers for the poor in five cities.
And the suit highlights a few members of Congress as being especially critical of the group. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is cited as having “(attacked) ACORN for years.” It quotes Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) trying to tie President Barack Obama to the group. And it cites Republican Reps. Steve King (Iowa) and Todd Akin (Mo.) calling a Obama campaign poster in ACORN’s headquarters a “Jeremiah Wright moment.”
Successful cases proving a bill of attainder are rare in the United States, said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University who successfully argued the last attainder case in 2003.
Turley said ACORN has a “legitimate claim” for asking a court to overturn the law, on the standing that barring the organization from receiving funds could be considered “legislative punishment.” Congress has equally compelling arguments, he said, but may have acted in haste because it did not hold hearings and create a complete record documenting ACORN’s misconduct.
“Congress may wish it had acted with a bit more deliberation,” Turley said.
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So if ACORN wins, will those execs get their bonuses back?
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