http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29436.html
A 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.
Now you know me, I was highly critical of Acorn and all the crud they pulled on those undercover tapes. The organization DESERVES to have it's federal funding pulled, since they were caught on tape assisting people to defraud that government.
However... they may have a point.
A bill of attainder is "a legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial." The Constitution of the United States forbids bills of attainder from being passed by the Congress (article 1, section 9) or state legislatures (section 10).
How this turns out depends entirely upon how the bill was written. If Congress specifically cited Acorn in the bill, then Acorn may well prevail at trial... though you can be sure it will go all the way to the Supreme Court. A victory is not out of the question, here.
I am a big proponent of the US Constitution, regardless of whether or not it works in my favor today. Today I want Acorn defunded... but not if Congress had to violate the Constitution in order to do it. The Constitution is supposed to be the rules which govern the actions of Congress, and they must abide by those rules even if we must force them to do so.
I am not a lawyer and I haven't read the bill in question, so I don't have an opinion as to whether it was actually a bill of attainder or not. But if it was, then Acorn should prevail in court... that's how the rule of law works.
0 comments:
Post a Comment