Friday, July 21, 2017

"Civil Asset Forfeiture: Legalized Highway Robbery"

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
That’s the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Everybody knows the portion of it that forbids “self-incrimination” (actually, the language is broader than that “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”)  But there’s also this part:
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
In order by law to justly take someone’s life, deprive them of their liberty, or take their property, it must be with due process of law.
So why the bloody hell does “Civil Asset Forfeiture” even exist?  This amounts to taking someone’s property simply because some individual in some position in government–whether a law enforcement officer or some bureaucrat–simply claims that they think the property might be used for, or come as a result of, criminal action.

(Link to more - via Instapundit)

6 comments:

AllenS said...

I worked with a lot of immigrants from the 3rd world. They did not trust banks. The stock market. 401k plans. An IRA. Cash only, and they kept it at home. If they wanted to buy something, they carried hard cold cash. Legalized Highway Robbery? Yes. I hate to say this, but the police are not your friends. It never used to be like that, but that's the way it is now.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Seems that, around here, anytime there's a home invasion reported in the news, the victim is either a drug dealer or an Asian shopkeeper.

Leland said...

I would say 9th Circuit, call you office; but I get a busy signal and the recorded message: "too busy protecting the unwritten constitutional rights of non-citizens to worry about protected rights of actual US citizens"

Chip Ahoy said...

Sessions blew it on this one. I thought it was the sort of thing he was hired to eliminate, but I was wrong. I hope Trump fires him, friend or not. And Tucker Carlson telling Trump (open letter style on his show) to get off Session's back because Session is Trump's friend is just arrogant and wrong. These Washington people really do live in their own crystalized hard shell bubble with no concept whatsoever how citizens live outside their precious gold birdcage.

Well, Chip, which is it, a crystalized bubble or a golden birdcage?

It's both! A birdcage inside a bubble inside a normal country.

Amartel said...

Yah, Sessions totally screwed up on this one. He's a fossil, still operating under the old school GOP assumptions. He's doing a lot of good things, though, too. Don't let that pass you by. Hope he'll give a hearing to the people telling him to rethink this decision. It would mean a lot to the new demographics we've picked up lately.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Chip:

FYI, this is something Sessions was on record supporting when he was nominated.