ACORN Still Fundraising (and Litigating)

Matthew Vadum at BigGovernment.com scoops an ACORN fundraising email released on April 16 with a message from ACORN CEO and Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis asking for cash and claiming: "[W]e're not dead." That is not that surprising, although it seems like there have been mixed signals coming from the organization in the past few months as to its viability. In late February, Politico first reported the news of ACORN's dissolution. Following that were reports that several of ACORN's state and local organizations had rebranded under non-ACORN names and that others had simply shut down (like ACORN's Baltimore office). In Indiana, ACORN was even dismissed as a plaintiff in federal court in ACORN v. Murphy, a case involving the distribution of voter application forms at state public assistance offices, because the organization ceased to exist in the state. There were other statements from high-ranking ACORN employees that the organization may well be going down.  

However, ACORN has continued to litigate, most notably in ACORN v. USA, where ACORN challenged the constitutionality of October's continuing resolution withholding funding from the organization. ACORN prevailed in federal District Court where a Clinton appointee, Judge Nina Gershon, held that the bill amounted to an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder. The government appealed the case to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and moved for an emergency stay of Gershon's decision that enjoined the U.S. from withholding funding for ACORN. As Chris wrote yesterday, the U.S. won this first battle on appeal and the Second Circuit overruled Gershon's order enjoining the U.S. from defunding ACORN. Now the federal government can, at least temporarily, withhold funds from ACORN. (Note: this is not a final decision. Briefs will be filed and oral arguments will still be made at the Second Circuit and I assume the constitutionality issue will be dealt with by the court.)  

What is most interesting about all the talk of ACORN's dissolution is the fact that it continues to send lawyers into court to argue its cases. In the past few months, ACORN has filed several pleadings and has appeared on a number of occasions (in addition to filing numerous pleadings) to safeguard its victory against the government in getting their funding back. Now in the appellate courts, ACORN continues to have legal representation. Just this Tuesday, ACORN attorneys appeared to argue at the Second Circuit on the governments' motion for a stay of Gershon's decision. Please click here and here for letters signed by ACORN's counsel in the case. (Note the interesting discussion in the letters of HUD renewing a public housing grant that may or may not be run by an ACORN affiliate.) Granted, the attorneys for ACORN work for the Center for Constitutional Rights, a public interest law organization, so it is likely that ACORN is getting its legal representation at little to no cost. Regardless, ACORN continues to battle in court as if it is a functioning and viable organization. We will see what happens from here in the Second Circuit. The government's (appellant) appellate brief is due on April 30, ACORN's (appellee) is due on May 14, and appellant's reply brief on May 24. Oral argument will be scheduled for shortly thereafter according to the order granting the stay.