ACORN, the 40-year-old, nationwide community organizing group has suffered more political fallout in 2009 than any number of shamed political officials embattling a public scandal, never mind the fact that the organization hasn’t exactly been a darling of the right wing over the years.

But when the group was stripped of its federal funding by way of a resolution passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House of Representatives in the wake of an embarrassing incident where two right wing activists, dressed as a pimp and a prostitute, filmed themselves receiving home buying advice from a local ACORN chapter, a handful of Acorn supporters cried foul. And now a federal judge agrees. The move to ban federal funding was, indeed, unconstitutional, according to a ruling handed down in December by a U.S. District Court judge.

The Justice Department is reviewing the decision, and it will be interesting to see how the largely right-wing opposition to ACORN will respond. But perhaps it will be more interesting to see how one-time friends of ACORN will react, or if they will react at all. Is there any turning of the political tide for ACORN?