Stop the Bill of Attainder Tell your Congressmember to stand up for the Constitution

Last September, in the midst of a stunning attack on an organization dedicated to organizing working people to act on their own behalf, the US Congress approved the Defund ACORN Act. It did this without investigating the charges leveled against us and in response to what was, above all, an enormous propaganda campaign. Congress’ move, singling out one organization for sanctions without investigation, is called a “bill of attainder” and it is expressly prohibited by the Constitution of the United States.

We have fought this miscarriage of justice from the beginning and from the beginning we’ve had success, including winning a preliminary injunction against it. Now our appeal is speeding through the courts, with the next hearing scheduled for this Thursday, June 24th. This fight is no longer about ACORN – as you know, we’ve ceased all field operations – it is about the Constitution itself. If this attack is allowed to stand, then any other organization that displeases those with power in the United States can be similarly attacked and, potentially, destroyed.

That’s why I’m asking you to stand up for justice, for the Constitution, and against Congress’ action by sending your members of Congress an email demanding they go on record opposing the defund ACORN act and the continuing efforts of the Administration to defend it in court.

ACORN has been investigated by four separate, independent, sources – former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, the California Attorney General, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) – and each of them has cleared ACORN of any wrongdoing. Three investigations reviewing the videos used to attack ACORN determined that they were “splice jobs” in which “the truth is on the cutting room floor”. The fourth, from the GAO, concluded that ACORN had not misused any of the Federal funds it had received. In other words, the entire set of attacks was a witch hunt driven using modern propaganda techniques and with millions of dollars in dedicated air time on a “news” channel and talk radio.

And you know why. We were simply too good at what we did – engaging low- and moderate-income families and families of color in America’s democratic system. If we hadn’t helped 860,000 new voters get on the voter rolls since 2004 (we believe this is the largest non-partisan voter registration effort ever carried out by a single non-profit organization), if we hadn’t helped raise the minimum wage in seven states, if we hadn’t blown the whistle about predatory lending in the sub-prime market back in 1999, and if we hadn’t brought in over $15 billion in direct benefits to America’s low- and moderate-income neighborhoods from 1994 – 2004, then we wouldn’t have been the targets of smears and attacks going back to the 2004 election. Smears that were exposed during the height of the scandal surrounding the firing of US Attorneys like David Iglesias in New Mexico, who refused to trump up phony voter fraud charges against ACORN.

You can stand up to these smears and for justice for working people by telling Congress to finally do the right thing. Frankly, if the attacks leveled against ACORN had really been about misusing taxpayer dollars, you can bet that defense contractors like Xe (formerly Blackwater), Halliburton, and Kaman Dayron, all of whom have been found guilty of either committing actual crimes or of collectively defrauding the American people of hundreds of millions of dollars, would have been the subject of their own Defund Corporate Criminals Act.

But, of course, they aren’t. Because, unlike ACORN’s low- and moderate-income membership, these corporations can buy influence in the highest levels of political power in the United States. So, our lawsuit against the unconstitutional Defund ACORN Act is not about ACORN and its past federal funding. It is about justice for all organizations that fight for the interests of regular folks against the most powerful interests in America. You can remind Congress that people expect them to tackle the difficult issues facing our country and its working families, not engage in political grandstanding at the expense of constitutional guarantees.

Thank you for all your past support and for taking a stand to make America a fairer and more equitable place for all of us.