ACORN Funding Ban Upheld by Court

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Nina Gershon's resumption ruling of Congress' funding of ACORN. The 2nd Circuit ruled that banning government funds to ACORN was not a form of "punishment" and therefore was not an unconstitutional bill of attainder, as the organizations attorney's argued.

Darrell Issa

Congress originally shut-off the money spigot. ACORN sued Congress. Congress won. Gershon reversed the win, and here we are this week with the 2nd Circuit upholding the original ruiling. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has been the taxpayer's watchdog on this case. Here's his statement

In one, unified and bipartisan voice, the United States Congress and the president agreed that it was inappropriate to use taxpayer dollars to fund a partisan political organization, intentionally structured as a criminal enterprise that used the guise of charity to deceive the American people while betraying very people it claimed to help.

Hopefully, today's ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals puts an end to ACORN's misguided belief that there exists some right to taxpayer dollars to fund their overtly criminal and partisan political agenda.

For it's part, ACORN is asking the court to reconsider.

We cannot let Congress act like judge, jury and executioner without any hearings at all. No matter how politically unpopular and vulnerable ACORN is, we cannot allow right wing to pressure Congress into acting in unconstitutional manner.

So when the spigot stopped, and Gershon turned it back on...does ACORN have to repay the taxpayer's money?