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Government sued for defunding scandal-hit ACORN
Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:06pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The scandal-hit liberal grass-roots group ACORN sued the U.S. government on Thursday, saying it did not have the right to cut off ACORN's federal funding because the group had not been convicted of a crime.
The U.S. Congress voted in September to cut off federal money to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), after conservative activists secretly filmed employees in several cities giving tax and housing advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute.
"It's not the job of Congress to be the judge, jury, and executioner," said Jules Lobel, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the case in Brooklyn federal court.
"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," Lobel said.
Republicans have long accused the group of fraud in registering voters and improperly mixing political and nonpolitical activities. They say it has received $53 million in federal money since 1994.
ACORN, which has also suffered an embezzlement scandal involving the founder's brother, has separately sued the makers of the videos.
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining to prevent the Congress from reallocating funds designated for ACORN.
Beyond its voter registration drive, the group promotes affordable housing programs for lower-income people, offers tax counseling and has aggressively fought home foreclosures.
(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Vicki Allen)
ACORN Sues Over 'Unconstitutional' Funding Cuts By Congress
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.
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.
Last time I checked, ACORN "asked" for the money as it was being used for "aid" to help low-income and underdeveloped areas in the 1970's.
After that, the Government quit asking questions and slacked on regulating the dispersion of funds to ACORN, therein ACORN took advantage.
Now that ACORN has been exposed for what it is now, a radically different form of "aid" more in line with political strategy to fund campaigns for those who they think support their "cause", and the government has pulled all of their funding, ACORN wants to sue?
Absolutely ridiculous. That's like a child getting mad after you stop giving them allowance after you, the parent, finds out they have been smoking pot in the next door neighbor's shed for the last couple years.
They will lose their case. It is very difficult to sue the government. First, they decide if and how they can be sued. Second they have many get of being sued cards. One of the most powerful is the "Discretionary Function Exception". I speak from experience ... if the government doesn't want to be sued ... they won't be ... even if they or their representatives are clearly at fault for something.
I dont think they win, but it's a solid argument b/c of this....
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
Constitutionalists? Or is this one of the exceptions like felons and firearms or mass murderers and 10 million dollar bails?
__________________ Gun Totin' Liberals: Left of Center But Always on Target
I don't know if this qualifies as a bill of attainder. Most likely ACORN doesn't intend to take this to the supreme court which will determine if the law is unconstitutional. I suspect they only care to get a judge to delay implementation of the law which will get them back their funding.
If this is a bill of attainder then the law is unconstitutional and should be declared as such and ACORN should get the funding back. A lot of it probably hinges on how they were given their funding in the first place. Were they contracted under a government program or were they given funding directly through the congress? I have no idea.
I don't know if this qualifies as a bill of attainder. Most likely ACORN doesn't intend to take this to the supreme court which will determine if the law is unconstitutional. I suspect they only care to get a judge to delay implementation of the law which will get them back their funding.
If this is a bill of attainder then the law is unconstitutional and should be declared as such and ACORN should get the funding back. A lot of it probably hinges on how they were given their funding in the first place. Were they contracted under a government program or were they given funding directly through the congress? I have no idea.
If this is the case then they will surely lose. The Government retains the unilateral right to terminate any contract we enter into. Its a clause we put into all our contracts. Now if we terminate for Cause (and don't have any) then there are procedures to make sure the contractor is whole again however I have a hard time seeing ACORN as being "wrongfully" terminated IF this was a contractual (not congressional) agreement.
If it was congressional i have no clue how that works but i would imagine Congress has the right to yank funding at any point if they deem necessary or they would be locked in lawsuits every time we have a party change and funding for abortion/anti-abortion switches sides
ACORN sues govt over de-funding
Most likely ACORN doesn't intend to take this to the supreme court which will determine if the law is unconstitutional. I suspect they only care to get a judge to delay implementation of the law which will get them back their funding.
