Print media reported that Obama represented ACORN, but not that DOJ was a fellow plaintiff in the lawsuit

Summary: Numerous print media outlets reported that Sen. Barack Obama represented the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in the 1990s in a lawsuit, but they did not report that the Department of Justice was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit with the League of Women Voters and others. The lawsuit sought to require the state of Illinois to implement federal law on voter registration.

In October 10 and 11 articles, numerous print media outlets, including the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune, the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the Politico, reported that Sen. Barack Obama represented the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in the 1990s in a lawsuit. But those articles did not note that the Department of Justice joined with ACORN as a plaintiff in the suit, which sought to force the State of Illinois to implement a federal voter registration law. By contrast, in an October 10 article, The New York Times reported: "While Mr. Obama did represent Acorn in a lawsuit in 1995, Acorn was on the same side as the Justice Department." The Times also noted that "other organizations, including the League of Women Voters," were plaintiffs in the lawsuit.