The Defund ACORN Act is Constitutional

thesmophoron — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:12:59 -0800

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the Defund ACORN Act of 2009 is not a Bill of Attainder (pdf). The court ruled that the evidence is insufficient to show that the defunding constituted 'punishment' under any of the rubrics of historical definitions of punishment, functional considerations, or demonstrated Congressional intent. David Kopel of the libertarian legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy offers explanation and comment, following up Eugene Volokh's previous post on the District Court injunction. The case has been remanded to the Eastern District of New York for consideration of ACORN's (weaker) due process and First Amendment claims. Previously: [1] [2]

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