Reading Room Document

Effect of Spending Prohibition on HUD's Satisfaction of Contractual Obligations to ACORN

Section 163 of division B ("Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2010") of Public Law 111-68 does not direct or authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development to breach a pre-existing binding contractual obligation to make payments to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations where doing so would give rise to contractual liability. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/olc/file/2009-10-23-acorn/download.

October 23, 2009