Family Life

11.13.09 | FL News Team

The controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN, has sued the U.S. government claiming Congress had no right to cut off the group's federal funding. The non-profit that claims more than 400-thousand members says the government had no right to withhold money because ACORN hasn't been convicted of any crime. In September, Congress voted to cut off federal funds to ACORN after a secretly recorded video was made public. In that video, employees of ACORN were shown offering advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute who wanted to open a bordello. An attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the suit, says "It's not the job of Congress to be the judge, jury and executioner."

The secret recording episode was just one of a long list of incidents involving the group that's been accused of voter registration fraud, improper mixing of political and non-political activities and an embezzlement scandal involving the founder's brother. The lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court asks for a temporary restraining order to prevent Congress from using funds originally designated for ACORN for any other purpose.