According to today's New York Times ,
The federal government must continue to provide grant money to the national community organizing group, Acorn, a federal court ruled Friday, saying that the House violated the Constitution when it passed a resolution barring the group from receiving federal dollars.
A judge at the United States District Court in Brooklyn issued a preliminary injunction that nullifies the resolution and requires the government to honor existing contracts with the group and review its applications for new grants unless the Obama administration appeals the decision.
The court ruled that the resolution amounted to a “bill of attainder,” a legislative determination of guilt without trial, because it specifically punishes one group.
In the opinion, Judge Nina Gershon wrote of Acorn, “They have been singled out by Congress for punishment that directly and immediately affects their ability to continue to obtain federal funding, in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative process adjudicating guilt.”
Note to ACORN Board (in my opinion): THIS DOES NOT MEAN you don't have to clean-up your act nor does it mean you haven't done wrong. Thanks to the Center on Constitutional Rights, you've bought yourself time. Nonprofits don't get a "get-out-of-jail-free" card too many times in their institional lives. There are lessons to be learned from this experience.