Jerrold Nadler (NY-D) – Defunding ACORN is unconstitutional

One of the 75 who voted NOT to defund ACORN on the House bill, Jerrold Nadler (New York Democrat) who is Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties today issued a press release whining about how defunding APORN, oopps, excuse me ACORN is blatantly unconstitutional and a threat to unpopular organizations everywhere. The full press release from Conservative Punk is as follows:

Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, denounced a Republican Amendment adopted by the House of Representatives to deny all federal funds to ACORN as blatantly unconstitutional and a threat to unpopular organizations everywhere. The Republican initiative, entitled the Defund ACORN Act, singles out a specific organization by name for exclusion from participating in any federal program, in direct violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against Bills of Attainder.

“Today’s Republican Amendment is in blatant violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against Bills of Attainder,” said Nadler. “Congress must not be in the business of punishing individual organizations or people without trial, and that’s what this Amendment does. Whatever one may think of an organization, the Constitution’s clear ban on Bills of Attainder is there for the protection of all of our liberties.”

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September 19, 2009 · Filed Under Acorn, Democrats


Comments

  • PhilMB

    Seems Nadler got educated beyond his intelligence! Like me, Congress can determine where to spend the monies it is permitted to; that they can add or detract funding from any group has already been done many times in the past.

  • http://www.conservativerepublicans.com Jed

    Is crime constitutional?

    ACORN is a criminal organization that supports criminals in tax fraud, child prostitution, etc.

  • http://www.conservativerepublicans.com Jed

    Perhaps we should stop funding any organization through earmarks, so no such bill would be necessary?

  • ejhickey

    Nadler is a hypocrite who has voted for bills of Attainder in the recent past . specifically he voted for 90% taxes on the bonuses of AIG executive who were legally enetiled to the payments and who had done nothing wrong. Plus since there is no case law directly on this issue, Nadler’s opinion is no more than a theory unsupported by case law.