ACORN Says It Has A Constitutional Right To Your Money

That’s what I write in today’s American Spectator. From the top of the article:

Activist group and organized crime syndicate ACORN has a constitutional right to defraud the people of the United States it claims in a federal lawsuit.

Actually, the lawsuit, filed with the assistance of the allegedly terrorist-funded Center for Constitutional Rights, doesn’t use the word fraud, but that’s what it amounts to because ACORN argues in the document that it has a right to taxpayer dollars. I kid you not.

In the action filed in U.S. District Court ACORN plays the victim — as always.

ACORN claims the congressionally approved cutoff of federal funding that expires Dec. 18 violates the Constitution’s prohibition on bills of attainder, along with ACORN’s free speech and due process rights.

Of course, due process is a rather specific legal concept that applies to judicial proceedings, rather than the lawmaking process. A bill of attainder singles out an individual or group for punishment without trial.

Is it punishment for ACORN to be denied public funds? That implies the group has the right to receive those funds. [...]