ACORN has shown America what the audacity of hope really looks like. In the aftermath of the videos showing ACORN employees engaged in conversations that should have triggered a federal racketeering probe for tax fraud and underage prostitution, Congress reacted to the overwhelming public revulsion to ACORN by enacting a federal law blocking ACORN from receiving any more of your tax money.

In a brazen display of their lack of shame, ACORN audaciously sued the federal government, asserting that depriving them of federal funds was unconstitutional because it’s a bill of attainder. They shopped around for what they hoped would be a friendly court, and filed the suit in Brooklyn.

On Dec. 11, Judge Nina Gershon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a preliminary injunction blocking Congress’ law as unconstitutional, requiring the government to keep giving ACORN your money. In a twenty-one page opinion, the judge explains the law is a bill of attainder, therefore that ACORN will ultimately win the lawsuit, and so must continue receiving federal funds now.

Most people (and many lawyers) have never heard of a bill of attainder. They come from the British system. For centuries and through the colonial days, Parliament could pass a resolution declaring a particular person to be guilty of crimes, usually treason against the king. Such an action is called a bill of attainder.

So in Article I of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers forever barred bills of attainder in this country. This clause guarantees that no one can be criminally punished without a trial.

But this law is not a bill of attainder. First, a bill of attainder must be directed against specific individuals. This law is directed against a nationwide corporation and its corporate affiliates.

Second, a bill of attainder involves a legislative finding of guilt and then inflicts punishment. This law implies no guilt, simply saying the government shall no longer grant money to the group.

This is not punitive in a legal sense. No one is entitled to taxpayer money. It’s the ultimate entitlement mentality to assert otherwise.

If this precedent were to stand, then anytime a group has a government contract, and then the government doesn’t renew that contract after the group earns some bad press, then that group could sue the federal government to keep getting money. There are multiple Supreme Court precedents upholding laws where federal money was denied to certain groups, which the district court here casts aside.

The irony is incredible. De-funding ACORN was one of the only issues where Barack Obama showed any fiscal restraint. Now a judge has struck down this singular example of wisely conserving taxpayer money.

This irony then compounds to Shakespearean levels, because this court opinion was exactly the kind of activist decision you can expect from the judges Barack Obama is appointing to the federal courts. Legally speaking, this was mainstream-liberal, not extreme-liberal. There’s a weak—but cogent—argument that laws like this one are unconstitutional that many liberals would accept, as this court did.

If Obama appears to be crying over this decision, then they’re crocodile tears, because this holding allows his longtime friends to continue getting your money with an exertion of judicial activism.

It’s noteworthy that in discussing the Bill of Attainder Clause of the Constitution, the district court failed to discuss at all the Appropriations Clause. That provision states that, “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.” In other words, only Congress can dole out federal dollars.

The court fails to consider whether it has the authority to order the executive branch (the Treasury Department) to continue giving federal dollars to ACORN after the legislative branch (Congress) with sole possession of the power of the purse has specifically passed a law barring any such appropriation. This opinion doesn’t even raise the separation-of-powers issue of a court dictating federal spending.

ACORN v. U.S. is an example of judicial overreaching. It reflects a liberal view of the Constitution, which means this ruling probably reflects Obama’s personal beliefs—which are consistently liberal—on the legality of the de-funding measure.

It is yet another form of Obama’s circumventing the constitutional system to enact such measures, but then create courts that will undo them.

This particular ruling can be immediately appealed even before the case is concluded in the district court, and the Justice Department filed a notice of appeal on Dec. 16 to pursue this option.

The ruling must be reversed on appeal to the Second Circuit. No taxpayer money for ACORN.

Ken Klukowski is a fellow and senior legal analyst with the American Civil Rights Union.

Ken Blackwell is a senior fellow with the Family Research Council and serves on the board of directors of the National Taxpayers Union and the Club for Growth.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has informed two House Republicans that it will investigate ACORN’s use of federal funds.

The GAO sent a letter to Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, informing them of its decision. Smith and Issa on Thursday released the letter, dated Dec. 7

“GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority,” wrote Ralph Dawn, managing director of GAO’s government relations department.

Dawn also noted that in September, Issa, Smith and 20 members of the Senate, as well as Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), requested the GAO investigation.

Issa applauded the GAO for looking into the ACORN controversy.

Read the whole article here.

12-11-09 Deleware State Public Integrity Commission Letter to Issa – ACORN Deleware Lobbying –

The Public Integrity Commission has subsequently sent a certified letter to Delaware ACORN “stating that the law provides that the Public Integrity Commission can refer suspected violations of the lobbying law to the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution.  The matter will be on the Commission’s agenda for its December 15, 2009 meeting.”

“After being notified of their failures to adhere to state lobbying laws, Delaware ACORN has ignored state law while still engaging in lobbying activities,” Issa said.  “This is another example of ACORN’s blatant disregard for the law.  ACORN continues to submit fraudulent filings while failing to abide by the lobbying and election rules while claiming to be a community organization that operates within the boundaries of the law – nothing could be further from the truth.”

Professor Peter Dreier, an ACORN apologist who portrays himself as an independent analyst, is really anything but.

As Andrew Breitbart articulated on BigGovernment November 25th, regarding a “study” Dreier produced critical of media coverage of ACORN:

At the end of the piece Professor Dreier offers the following biography: Peter Dreier, E.P Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College.

Why did Professor Dreier choose to leave out the critical information regarding his advisory relationship to ACORN? Isn’t sitting on an advisory committee of ACORN the definition of a conflict of interest in writing a fair and balanced piece on the organization? In fact, Dreier has been shilling for ACORN at least since 2003.

So when Dreier proclaimed ACORN “Not Guilty” in one of his recent columns on TalkingPointsMemo, I must admit I threw up a bit in my mouth.  Some of Dreier’s most pathetic conclusions:

ACORN is getting a bum rap — in the news media, among politicians, and even by some foundations. That’s the conclusion of an independent report released Monday, which acknowledged that ACORN needs to improve its management structure, but that it did not engage in illegal activities. . .Since last year, ACORN has been under attack by conservative media outlets like Fox News, Republican Party operatives, and business groups.

That’s a tenuous conclusion, considering the fact that ACORN’s Las Vegas office was raided by Nevada’s Democratic Secretary of State and was put on trial by the state’s Democratic Attorney General. Additionally, ACORN’s New Orleans office was raided by Louisana’s Democratic Attorney General. But those inconvenient truths probably slipped Dreier’s mind.

ACORN is now well known, but what most Americans know about it is wrong, based on controversies manufactured by the group’s long-time enemies, Drier wrote.

Does he mean the pesky Democratic state officeholders who keep hauling ACORN into court?

According to Dreier, the Harshbarger report is having the intended effect, providing a thin cover for ACORN’s radically liberal allies to welcome it back into the fold.

After Harshbarger released his report, various progressive groups — including SEIU, People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, the Campaign for America’s Future, NAACP, U.S. Action, and others — expressed support for ACORN and for the recommendations in the Harshbarger report.

In fact, SEIU president Andy Stern said, “What Mr. Harshbarger did find is something the media should have caught: the freelance ’sting’ operation that did so much damage to ACORN’s reputation last fall is deeply suspicious and deserving of increased scrutiny.”

For those on the left, ACORN is too big and important to fail.  And with the stubborn support of Andy Stern and others, ACORN isn’t going away any time soon.

“The media and Congress, which made an ill-informed rush to judgment based on incomplete or suspect evidence, should take their time to assess this report and give ACORN the impartial assessment it deserves,” Stern said.

Impartial assessment? Based on what? The work of Drier and Harshbarger, two unapologetic ACORN cheerleaders?

ACORN critics will only pay attention when a truly independent source, who isn’t being paid by ACORN, does a thorough investigation of the situation.

STATEMENTFROMACORNADVISORYCOMMITTEE_092909 –

Mr. Harshbarger promised to release preliminary findings of his review at the end of October. Monday is the end of November and his preliminary findings don’t seem any closer to release.

Still, ACORN has recently filed suit against the federal government to restore its federal funding. And just this week, Eric Holder’s Justice Department issued a ruling saying federal agencies could ignore Congressional bans on funding and could continue to pay ACORN for existing contracts.

Sounds like ACORN is tying to go back to ‘business-as-usual.’ So, whatever became of that review? And, why are we the only ones asking that question?

According to señor Roach via BigGovernment.com, after the release of the San Diego ACORN sting videos—which my daughter Hannah, James O’Keefe, and Andrew Breitbart dropped on the Nation’s head—and following Governor Schwarzenegger’s call for a probe into this batty zoo, Roach took it upon himself to get busy and see if he could ferret out more funky filth from this nefarious gang.

And, as stated, Roach scored more than Dwayne Wade would playing hoops against blind five-year-old, one-legged narcoleptic midgets.

What did Papa Roach come across?  Well, my children, it was stuff like …

• Information exposing the inner workings of ACORN in California.
• Sensitive personal information belonging to employees, members and ACORN clients, such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, immigration records, and tax returns.
• ACORN’s political agenda is also laid bare, with thousands upon thousands of documents revealing the depth of the political machine that is ACORN and its disturbing ties not only to public employee labor unions but some of the most radical leftist organizations in existence (I wonder which politicians we will discover are in cahoots with these goofy clowns?).

The timing of this 20k plus page paper plunk of sensitive and incriminating 411 is kinda interesting as well.  Check it out:

• On October 1, 2009 California Attorney General Jerry announced that he was going to do a little look-see inside ACORN’s hull to determine if their San Diego office was as innocent as Bertha Lewis, David Lagstein and the Mange Stream Media screamed them to be.
• “Coincidently,” just a few days prior to when AG Brown was slated to pay them a howdy-doo, low and behold, on October 9, ACORN San Diego decided to do a bit of midnight spring cleaning and dump all their docs in a public dumpster to spruce up the joint before the AG’s arrival.
• Unfortunately for poor ACORN, PI Derrick Roach was parked outside waiting for them to do something stupid like dump 20,000 plus pages of their corporate papyrus and their clients’ personal records in a trash bin behind their slim shady facilities.

By the way, are there laws governing how personal info like social security numbers, tax returns, driver’s license numbers and stuff like that should be handled?  I’m thinking there would be.  Hmmm, I don’t know.  Maybe Media Matters will look into it; if there are laws demanding stringent care and disposal of sensitive info, it looks like ACORN, prima facia, could be in deep crap with a stack of folks for placing their private stories in a public dumpster.

I would now like to address you, Mr. Roach.  Good job, old chap! As Hannah Giles’ father and one who has been on the receiving end of the ACORN/Mange Stream Media stick, please take my advice and brace for the vilifying crunch from these numb nuts.

They’re are going to hit you with retarded stuff like …

• How dare a conservative PI jump into a dumpster and steal trash?!  It’s unethical.
• You’re not a legitimate trash man.  You’ve never been to trash man school.
• The trash did not give its consent to be removed from the dumpster.  California law requires garbage to give its go-ahead before it is embraced by another.
• FOX News paid you 100 kadrillion dollar$ to dumpster dive.
• You tried this at thousands of other ACORN dumpsters and came up snake eyes.
• No other ACORN office would ever dispose of their clients’ records like this, except, of course, for that Oklahoma ACORN branch that left all their computers and crap on the curb after they got kicked out of their building for not paying the bills.

ACORN, naturally, is going into full damsel in distress mode, stating it was an accident and a coincidence that it occurred right before Brown and his boys were to perform their investigative colonoscopy into ACORN’s corrupt underbelly.

ACORN also blathered that Roach stole their trash.  Stole your trash?  Hey ACORN, once you place your clients’ sensitive info and your political playbook into le garbage it is public domain.  Every hooker running a whorehouse with underage sex slaves knows that.

Lastly, will the little darlings on the left report this?  Will Eric Holder call for a brutal investigation into the ACORNucopia of corruption of which BigGov and some citizen soldiers have uncovered?  Garsh … who knows!  I guess we poor little serf’s of Obamaland will just have to wait and see.

But, one shouldn’t take this to mean that ACORN is always and everywhere incompetent. You don’t build an international organization with offices in hundreds of US cities through incompetence. Part of ACORN’s secret is that it is really shrewd politically. Below is a plan for a 2-year ACORN campaign to repeal California’s Prop 13. That initiative, passed in 1979, restricts government’s power to increase taxes. One of its toughest provisions requires a 2/3rds vote of the legislature to raise taxes. ACORN, naturally, wants to scrap that.

ACORN – CA Budget Campaign -

This is impressive. ACORN is already mapping out a plan for the 2012 election cycle.

They are also honest about their present situation and the challenges it presents. Below is a memo detailing the possibility that ACORN may need to reconstitute under a different name in California.

ACORN – Memo _Name Change_ -

ACORN wants you to believe that the documents they dumped last month are old fliers, leaflets and other out-dated garbage. They aren’t. The documents above are current working documents. And, ACORN made a point of dumping them.

Stay tuned…