GOP Lawyers Slam Ruling On ACORN Funding

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Surprising no one, a Republican lawyer’s group is slamming a court’s decision Friday that ACORN can continue to receive federal funds for now.

In a statement, the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) also criticized the Justice Department on the issue, comparing its stance to its decision not to prosecute members of the New Black Panthers party for voter intimidation. Both positions, said the RNLA, show that “politics can thwart the rule of law.”

Said RNLA chair David A. Norcross:

So a federal court has ruled that ACORN – an organization accused of and admittedly engaged in fraudulent and illegal activity in multiple states – has a constitutional right to taxpayer funds? Who are they kidding? This same court questioned why Congress had not investigated ACORN. The Department of Justice’s feckless defense of Congress’s action cutting off funding to ACORN and protecting American taxpayers combined with its failure to prosecute the Philadelphia New Black Panthers for voter intimidation has led to the conclusion that politics can thwart the rule of law. The Republican National Lawyers Association will continue to call out the illegal activities of ACORN until every dime of taxpayer funding has dried up. ACORN may have all the Obama ‘powers that be’ protecting it from being held to account and Democrat lawmakers in their back pocket, but those seeking to bring this criminal enterprise to account have the support of the American people.

In the wake of a scandal in which ACORN employees were caught on tape advising a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to break the law, Congress voted to cut off federal funds from the organization. ACORN has sued, arguing that the measure was an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder. On Friday, a federal judge agreed.

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: