Can you blame them? I mean, beyond the scope of their criminal activity, those federal dollars grease the wheels in hundreds of neighborhoods across the country. It gives walking around money to their canvassers and other minions who supply the muscle for their community extortion rackets. It funds their offices where they train employees in techniques on how to radicalize people.

In short, without those federal funds, ACORN is just another liberal interest group struggling for cash.

So it should come as no surprise that ACORN has gone to federal court to get that funding restored. Jake Sherman at Politico has the story:

A non-profit organization filed a lawsuit against the federal government Thursday morning, seeking to overturn Congressional legislation that stopped the flow of federal funds to ACORN.

The suit, filed in federal court in New York, claims that legislation passed by the House and Senate to defund the group - on the heels of allegations of criminal activities - qualify as bills of attainder, legislation that unfairly targets one group. Such bills are unconstitutional.

The suit will seek to restore funding and roll-back the ban, which was passed as part of the legislative branch appropriations bill in September.

ACORN claims, among other things, that the legislation was of "malicious and punitive intent." The suit also claims Congress violated the Fifth Amendment and prejudged ACORN without a full investigation.

OMB Director Peter Orszag and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are co-defendants in the suit, because of their role in facilitating Congress' wishes in the budgeting process.

Efforts to defund ACORN became popular among Democrats and Republicans after conservative activists caught the organization's employees in several offices advising actors posing as a politician and his prostitute girlfriend on how to evade taxes and set up a brothel.

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and others in Congress quickly moved to ensure no federal funds were steered to the group - measures that got support from even the most ardent liberals like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). The language that the lawsuit targets is in the legislative branch appropriations bill.

Remember when the de-funding occurred, ACORN insisted that federal funds were not essential to its operations? This is true to a certain extent. But if they really want to be a player in the Democratic party, they need that federal cash.

It may be very difficult for ACORN to make the case that they are a single entity. They have so many subsidiaries, false fronts, for profit ventures, and convoluted organization, that it's hard to tell where one leaves off and the next begins. Thus, their grounds for suing - that the defunding is a "bill of attainder" may not have much standing when all is said and done.

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky