ACORN launches lawsuit in response to House's 'bill of attainder'

An embattled group of community organizers sanctioned by Congress in September is now suing the federal government for stripping its funds in an unconstitutional way.

House Republicans led the charge just two months ago to block the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, from collecting millions of federal dollars, after hidden-camera videos of the group's employees at work cast doubt on its business practices and ethics.

But ACORN lawyers are now arguing the House's effort to strip them of their money, which lawmakers attached to a student loan bill, constitutes a "bill of attainder" -- an unfair congressional sanction explicitly prohibited by the constitution.

In the lawsuit, submitted in a New York district court on Thursday and first reported by The New York Times, ACORN representatives say the group suffered undue damages as a result of the House's vote. Not only did the organization witness a number of its federal relationships deteriorate following September's fallout, it lost other investors' confidence and support, according to ACORN's filing.

“It gave the green light for others to terminate our funds as well,” CEO Bertha Lewis said in an affidavit. “All of our state and local grants were frozen, as were most of our private foundation funds.”

Consequently, ACORN names Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Office and Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag as their defendants in the case.

Thursday's filing, however, is actually the second major legal effort ACORN has launched to recoup some of its losses.

In October, the organization announced it would pursue lawsuits against James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles -- the two filmmakers who dressed as a pimp and a prostitute, respectively, entered ACORN's office in Baltimore and filmed their interactions with the group's employees.

ACORN argues that video in particular, which went viral online and triggered a harsh conservative backlash, was filmed without employees' consent and brought undue harm to the organization and its reputation.

ACORN also hinted it could follow up that lawsuit with similar legal efforts against others who recorded or disseminated hidden-camera videos of its employees and their work.

"Although we do not condone what our former employees did, no matter how entrapped they were, we are also committed to our 500,000 members that we will hold the defendants civilly and criminally responsible for their violations of Maryland's laws and for the damages inflicted upon ACORN's reputation," Lewis said in a statement at the time.

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