US defunds Mil-Ind Complex (and ACORN)

[D.Turtle]

This is too hilarious not to post:

First the text from the Resolution that has passed both the House and the Senate in order to defund ACORN:

A BILL

To prohibit the Federal Government from awarding contracts, grants, or other agreements to, providing any other Federal funds to, or engaging in activities that promote certain indicted organizations.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Defund ACORN Act'.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL FUNDS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN INDICTED ORGANIZATIONS.
(a) Prohibitions- With respect to any covered organization, the following prohibitions apply:
(1) No Federal contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or any other form of agreement (including a memorandum of understanding) may be awarded to or entered into with the organization.
(2) No Federal funds in any other form may be provided to the organization.
(3) No Federal employee or contractor may promote in any way (including recommending to a person or referring to a person for any purpose) the organization.

(b) Covered Organization- In this section, the term `covered organization' means any of the following:
(1) Any organization that has been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration.
(2) Any organization that had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements.
(3) Any organization that has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.
(4) Any organization that--
(A) employs any applicable individual, in a permanent or temporary capacity;
(B) has under contract or retains any applicable individual; or
(C) has any applicable individual acting on the organization's behalf or with the express or apparent authority of the organization.

(c) Additional Definitions- In this section:
(1) The term `organization' includes the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (in this subsection referred to as `ACORN') and any ACORN-related affiliate.
(2) The term `ACORN-related affiliate' means any of the following:
(A) Any State chapter of ACORN registered with the Secretary of State's office in that State.
(B) Any organization that shares directors, employees, or independent contractors with ACORN.
(C) Any organization that has a financial stake in ACORN.
(D) Any organization whose finances, whether federally funded, donor-funded, or raised through organizational goods and services, are shared or controlled by ACORN.
(3) The term `applicable individual' means an individual who has been indicted for a violation under Federal or State law relating to an election for Federal or State office.

(d) Revision of Federal Acquisition Regulation- The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be revised to carry out the provisions of this Act relating to contracts.

Emphasis obviously mine.

So, using the following list these organizations (among others) can expect to lose their funding:
1. Lockheed Martin
2. Boeing Company
3. Northrop Grumman
4. General Dynamics
5. Raytheon Company
6. BAE Systems
7. L-3 Communications
8. United Technologies Corporation
9. SAIC
10. KBR

and the list goes on.

They might be lucky though, because Section C-1 defines organizations as ACORN and ACORN affiliated organizations.

However, Section C-2 includes any organization that shares independent contractors with ACORN - I hope they all use different companies for cleaning windows, renovating etc, otherwise they could lose all their funding.

First found this here.

[Dominus Atheos]

Rep Jerry Nadler points out this is an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder:

Nadler said the Republican initiative, the Defund ACORN Act, introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, 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. The amendment was attached to a student loan bill.
“Today’s Republican amendment is in blatant violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against Bills of Attainder,” said Nadler, the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. “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.”

The Supreme Court, in decisions dating back to the Civil War era, has held that the Constitution prohibits all legislative acts, “no matter what their form, that apply either to named individuals or to easily ascertainable members of a group in such a way as to inflict punishment on them without a judicial trial….”

Nadler said during the McCarthy era, Congress enacted legislation prohibiting the use of funds to pay the salaries of three federal employees who Congress deemed subversive. The Supreme Court ruled this legislation unconstitutional as a Bill of Attainder.

The SCOTUS case he's referring to is U.S. v. Lovett.