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Conservatives Trash Sessions' Civil Forfeiture Program
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2017 Jul 20, 11:09pm 1,051 views 2 comments
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I rarely would commend any of the mentioned legislators, but I have to WARMLY commend them on this issue
I wouldn't commend them too much. Note that none introduced any legislation to change the civil forfeiture law to fix it. It isn't very commendable to condemn something while not doing anything about it. Which is the whole reason they were sent to congress in the first place, to write laws to solve problems. The legislating thing. That's the reason they are called legislators. I would rank it as hypocrisy frankly.
It's not sessions civil forfeiture program, it's congress's civil forfeiture program. Any of the regulations or directives they don't like they can change any time. Congress writes the laws. Congress loves regulations and directives. They can get credit for writing a lofty sounding law (which usually says nothing other than what to accomplish, but not how to do it) and blame those bureaucrat regulators or department heads when the voters don't like the details needed to make the law work.
@bob2356
re comment 1
your points are very sound. I was probably too nice to them.
http://www.businessinsider.com/civil-asset-forfeiture-doj-new-policy-2017-7
Republican lawmakers are up in arms over a new Justice Department directive allowing the federal government to take assets that were lawfully seized by local or state law enforcement officials.
Critics challenged the constitutionality of the program and alleged it encourages law enforcement agencies to seize property from individuals who were merely suspected of criminal activity and not formally charged with a crime, violating due process.
"Instead of revising forfeiture practices in a manner to better protect Americans' due process rights, the DOJ seems determined to lose in court before it changes its policies for the better," said Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
"The Fifth Amendment protects us from the government depriving us of our property without due process of law," read a statement from Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. "I oppose the government overstepping its boundaries by assuming a suspect's guilt and seizing their property before they even have their day in court."
"Civil asset forfeiture is unjust and unconstitutional," tweeted Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan. "It's a big-government scheme to take people's property without due process. End it."
"This is a troubling decision for the due-process protections afforded to us under the Fourth Amendment as well as the growing consensus we’ve seen nationwide on this issue," Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California said in a statement. "Criminals shouldn’t be able to keep the proceeds of their crime, but innocent Americans shouldn’t lose their right to due process, or their private property rights, in order to make that happen."
Announced on Wednesday, the civil-asset forfeiture directive allows local law-enforcement to avoid state regulations that places limits on forfeitures. By allowing the federal government to acquire the seized assets, the state or local agency may be eligible to receive up to 80% of the proceeds, bypassing state laws that require the assets to be deposited into general funds for the state. The remaining 20% of the funds would be kept by the federal government.
The Justice Department's inspector general found that civil-asset forfeitures took in nearly $28 billion in the last decade. In 2007, the DEA reportedly seized around $4.15 billion in cash alone.
ADDITIONALLY, THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTED THAT IN 2015, SEIZURES OUT-EARNED THE LOSSES FROM BURGLARIES IN THE US.
[Herb's emphasis]
Except here the robbers can't get arrested, in fact, they are showered with encomiums and keep their loot.
I rarely would commend any of the mentioned legislators, but I have to WARMLY commend them on this issue