An appeals court yesterday upheld a decision by Congress to cancel funding for the controversial ACORN activist group last year in the wake of a secret-video scandal.

The federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned a lower-court ruling that said the move violated the Constitution by punishing ACORN without a trial.

“Despite that evidence of punitive intent on the part of some members of Congress . . . there is no congressional finding of guilt in this case,” the three-judge panel ruled.

But the appeals court also sent the case back to Brooklyn federal Judge Nina Gershon to consider ACORN’s claims that its free-speech and due-process rights were violated.

Congress cut off funding for ACORN last year after conservative activists recorded workers offering advice on how to set up a proposed prostitution business.