Changes

===Defunding===

===Defunding===

Amid a widening probe into voter registration fraud by the liberal group, House Republican Leader [[John Boehner]] (R-Ohio) said “All federal funding to ACORN must be stopped.” <ref>[http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37232 De-Fund ACORN, Republican Leader Insists] CNSNews, October 10, 2008</ref> In addition, "..further evidence that this group cannot be trusted with another dollar of the taxpayers’ money. House [[Republicans]] took at stand recently to cut off funding to an ACORN slush fund created by their [Democratic] allies...but now more must be done.” The congressman's Web site notes that in the recently passed financial bailout package, Republicans “stripped out special-interest earmarks for trial lawyers, labor bosses and thinly-veiled political organizations like ACORN..." [http://www.gop.com/obamaacorntree/ RNC Fact Sheet]

Amid a widening probe into voter registration fraud by the liberal group, House Republican Leader [[John Boehner]] (R-Ohio) said “All federal funding to ACORN must be stopped.” <ref>[http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37232 De-Fund ACORN, Republican Leader Insists] CNSNews, October 10, 2008</ref> In addition, "..further evidence that this group cannot be trusted with another dollar of the taxpayers’ money. House [[Republicans]] took at stand recently to cut off funding to an ACORN slush fund created by their [Democratic] allies...but now more must be done.” The congressman's Web site notes that in the recently passed financial [[bailout]] package, Republicans “stripped out special-interest earmarks for trial lawyers, labor bosses and thinly-veiled political organizations like ACORN..." [http://www.gop.com/obamaacorntree/ RNC Fact Sheet]

Reeling from revelations of systematic fraud in both election registration and community development programs, ACORN saw both Houses of Congress vote to cut off federal funds in the "Defund ACORN Act," and the Census Bureau reject its help. Many states and cities are considering similar punishment. It shuttered 40% of its centers in cities including Chicago, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Omaha, and is not taking new clients in the centers that remain open in low-income neighborhoods.<ref> P.J. Huffstutter and Kate Linthicum, [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-acorn19-2009sep19,0,6183518.story "ACORN scaling back or shutting down in many cities," ''Los Angeles Times'' Sep. 19, 2009]</ref>  In an effort to regain some support, it sued to have the "Defund ACORN Act" enjoined as an unconstitutional [[bill of attainder]].  On December 11, the district court ruled in favor of ACORN, citing the precedent of [[United States v. Lovett]] to say that Congress cannot "declare that a single, named organization is barred from all federal funding in the absence of a trial." <ref>[http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/judge-gershon-12-11-2009-pi-order.pdf ACORN v. United States, full opinion]</ref>

Reeling from revelations of systematic fraud in both election registration and community development programs, ACORN saw both Houses of Congress vote to cut off federal funds in the "Defund ACORN Act," and the Census Bureau reject its help. Many states and cities are considering similar punishment. It shuttered 40% of its centers in cities including Chicago, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Omaha, and is not taking new clients in the centers that remain open in low-income neighborhoods.<ref> P.J. Huffstutter and Kate Linthicum, [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-acorn19-2009sep19,0,6183518.story "ACORN scaling back or shutting down in many cities," ''Los Angeles Times'' Sep. 19, 2009]</ref>  In an effort to regain some support, it sued to have the "Defund ACORN Act" enjoined as an unconstitutional [[bill of attainder]].  On December 11, the district court ruled in favor of ACORN, citing the precedent of [[United States v. Lovett]] to say that Congress cannot "declare that a single, named organization is barred from all federal funding in the absence of a trial." <ref>[http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/judge-gershon-12-11-2009-pi-order.pdf ACORN v. United States, full opinion]</ref>