New Court Decision: Congress Can Withhold ACORN Funding

by Warner Todd Huston | August 15, 2010 2:34 pm

Looks like ACORN lost another round[1] in court last week. New York’s 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s decision to re-instate Congressional funding of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) ruling that halting funding did not violate the group’s rights.

Congress finally cut off federal funding to ACORN after the controversy stirred by conservative activist James O’Keefe who videotapped various ACORN offices advising a prostitute to hide her profession in order to get federal housing funding. The “prostitute” was in truth an investigative reporter working with O’Keefe.

ACORN tried to sue James O’Keefe but its lawsuit was thrown out.

Eventually ACORN became so politically toxic that Congress eventually and properly cut off funding for the organization. In response to the actions by Congress ACORN sued to re-instate the finding claiming their rights were being violated and that Congress had given the group what amounted to a “corporate death sentence” by having the funding removed.

After winning the first round with favorable decision by a district court judge in Brooklyn, the case was appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeals. The Appeals Court ruled that the Brooklyn judge was wrong and said that since ACORN only got 10 percent of its funding from the federal government that the organization’s rights were not being violated and its existence was not endangered by removal of federal funding.

It would appear however, that ACORN is fighting a losing battle. Time will tell, certainly.