Center for Constitutional Rights

Appeals Court Upholds ACORN Funding Cutoff — For Now

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Tue, 08/17/2010 - 12:07

ACORN evidenceWhatever guises the discredited Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, assumes in the future, taxpayers now have less reason to worry about being conscripted into funding them. This past Friday, a Manhattan federal appeals court ruled that Congress last fall had acted within its authority in deleting funds for the radical nonprofit community network. In overturning a lower court, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals determined the appropriations cutoff had not punished ACORN without trial and thus was not in violation of the constitutional ban on bills of attainder. The decision was partial; the appeals court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon to decide whether ACORN's free speech and due process rights also had been violated. Even on those grounds, the plaintiffs' case looks shaky.

Bill Lann Lee Involved With Group That Defended Terror Lawyer

Submitted by Ben Johnson on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 16:00

Bill Lann LeeBill Lann Lee, a former U.S. Assistant Attorney General who served during the Clinton administration, is deeply involved with a group that donated thousands of dollars for the legal defense of convicted terrorist lawyer Lynne Stewart.

Five-and-a-half years after being convicted of providing material support for terrorism, Stewart last month was resentenced to ten years.

Lee, who was Bill Clinton's top civil rights officer from 1997-2000, is a donor to, and serves on the advisory board of, the Impact Fund. The Berkeley-based foundation directed a $5,000 grant to the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee in 2006.

Soros' Investment in Terror Lawyer Backfires

Submitted by Ben Johnson on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 09:25

Soros photoFive-and-a-half years after being convicted of providing material support for terrorism, terror lawyer Lynne Stewart finally received a sentence commensurate with her crime. She was resentenced last week to ten years. But if George Soros had his way, she would be free today.

Stewart made a career out of defending street criminals and terrorists, including Sammy "The Bull" Gravano (pleaded guilty), Weather Underground terrorist David J. Gilbert (convicted), and Larry Davis (acquitted of wounding six policemen and killing several others in 1986, only to be convicted of a later murder and killed in prison). It should have come as no surprise that Stewart, who worked "less than a mile from where the World Trade Center once stood," represented "the Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman.

Federal Judge in N.Y. Protects ACORN Government Funding

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Sun, 12/13/2009 - 18:48

ACORNRadicals long have used the judicial system as an effective last-ditch weapon to circumvent decisions by the legislative branch. This past Friday, one of their leading lights, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, showed the advantages of having a sympathetic federal judge in one's corner. This past Friday, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York, a Clinton appointee, issued a preliminary injunction against the recent congressional cutoff of funds for the New Orleans-based nonprofit network.

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