Time was, we were told that civil asset forfeiture would focus on the revenues and resources of large criminal organizations. It would be used, its proponents said, solely to impede commerce in outlawed drugs, illegal arms, and similar contraband.
Maybe not so much:
(Thanks to David DeGerolamo for the link to the video.)
Surprised? I’m not. The incentives are so starkly against the rights of private property that it would have been lethally surprising had this not occurred. Consider in this light the frequent assertions by politicians, police chiefs, and courts, including the Supreme Court, that the citizen does not have the right to resist an illegal order or action by the police – that his only avenue of redress is a lawsuit in the very courts that have sanctified civil asset forfeiture.
The great wonder is that so few police lose their lives in their attempts to seize law-abiding citizens’ rightful property. Of course, that could change.
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