Ethics

Is Defunding ACORN Unconstitutional?

By Ed Brayton

Mike Dunford has a post about the recent actions taken by the U.S. House and Senate to prohibit federal funding of any kind for ACORN, and he raises a question that occurred to me when the votes took place: Why isn't that a bill of attainder?

Perhaps some background is necessary here. A bill of attainder is a legislative act that punishes a particular person, organization or class of people without benefit of trial. As a general rule, a bill that targets a particular person or organization for some negative outcome may be a bill of attainder, which the constitution forbids. But as usual, the devil is in the details.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).