A former Justice Department attorney says it was "ludicrous" for a New York judge to declare Congress could not independently decide it wasn't going to fund the liberal activist group ACORN.
A federal judge has ordered government agencies to make it clear that funding is not blocked to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Brooklyn Judge Nina Gershon wrote in her opinion that it was "unmistakable that Congress determined ACORN's guilt before defunding it." (See earlier article) She also said Congress is entitled to investigate ACORN but cannot "rely on the negative results of a congressional or executive report to impose a broad, punitive funding ban on a specific, named organization."Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, says Gershon is not following the law or Supreme Court precedent, but rather substituting her judgment for that of Congress. "Congress has the ability to fund or not fund organizations, and they can do it for no reason or any reason, and her judgment on this and her reasoning is just very poor," he contends. "She also cited to the Code of Federal Regulations, which has this formal process for deciding when federal contractors can be suspended or debarred. But those are regulations -- they don't apply to Congress; those are regulations that apply to government agencies for deciding when a contractor should no longer receive money." Von Spakovsky adds there is "absolutely nothing" that requires Congress to appropriate funding for any particular organization.
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