Asset forfeiture was a big part of the War On Drugs. Here in Cleveland the cops confiscated a drug dealer's hot rod car (Trans Am I think) and used it for a patrol car, painted just like the other cop cars. The Feds used to have to publish a list of all seizures, maybe still do. Once a week it was in USA Today and it was 4 pages long. IIRC Mid 90's Congress passed a law hampering the ability to seize and the weekly lists were 2 pages long after that
this post was submitted on 10 May 2024
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The women got their cars back, this case wasn't about that, but SCOTUS really needs to deal with the "Civil Asset Forfeiture" monster that they created.
Why? The cops protect the rich, like judges. They want to keep them happy so they can use their privilege to avoid consequences
See the problem is that these women were stupid enough to be poor.. the smart rich people would have bought another car; and called the country prosecutor to get the cars returned. Silly people should have just eaten their cake.
/s
“Culley and Sutton’s argument for a separate preliminary hearing appears in many respects to be a backdoor argument for a more timely hearing so that a property owner with a good defense against forfeiture can recover her property more quickly,” he wrote. “But the court’s precedents already require a timely hearing.”
Alabama has since amended its forfeiture law to allow owners of seized property to request expedited hearings.
“Our decision today does not preclude those legislatively prescribed innovations,” Justice Kavanaugh wrote. “Rather, our decision simply addresses the base-line protection of the due process clause.”
Seems like it's less about civil forfeiture and more about how quickly can they get their property back when civil forfeiture happens
I think you have confused civil forfeiture with impounding.
You don't get your stuff back from civil forfeiture.
I think you haven't read the article
Both women literally already got their cars back
They're suing because the process was, as another commenter said, a huge pain in the ass
Impounding = you just have to pay to get car back.
Civil forfeiture = you have lost your vehicle, but there is a process to overturn the seizure.
The fact that there is a way to reverse a decision does not mean the default difference is that the former expects you to get it back and the latter is set up that you don't get it back (unless you do a bunch of extra steps).
You do realize the original comment was simply describing the reason for the lawsuit and you commented “I think you are confused.”
From the article “Ms. Culley and Ms. Sutton filed class actions in federal court saying that they should have been afforded prompt interim hearings to argue…”
They are literally saying they wanted to be able to streamline this process and get their stuff back faster. Explaining the difference between impounding and civil forfeiture doesn’t change the content of the article. The original comment was accurate in describing what the article was about.
No, the fact that it is civil forfeiture, which is handled differently than impounding, is relevant for a post that says:
how quickly can they get their property back when civil forfeiture happens
That wording implies that they will get their property back, when the default for civil forfeiture is not getting their property back. Expediting the hearings doesn't change the underlying issue of civil forfeiture being the police taking away people's stuff for a reason that has nothing to do with their arrests and forcing people to justify getting it back.
It will also speed up the cases where they are not given their stuff back.
Then you should have said that in your original response.
Like it was said, if you had originally read the article or look into it before commenting you would know they already got their cars back. Meaning your staunch stands that they don’t get their stuff back is false.
Even if you had done a simple Wikipedia search you would understand that there is a hearing. That means you can fight it and get your stuff back. A preponderance of evidence is required for civil asset forfeiture.
The Supreme Court case is about the intentional delay of the hearing for civil asset forfeiture. So that means they can represent themselves or pay for legal counsel to get their stuff back in a reasonable time. (Due process, fifth and 14th amendment. The government cannot deprive anyone of life liberty or property.) clearly we are talking about property here.
Don’t get me wrong civil asset forfeiture should not exist, and is an abomination to our rights. However, you need to accept that you were wrong with your comment towards Chestnut for giving a simplified explanation of what the root caused for the case was.
You definitely can, but the process is (by design) a giant pain in the ass.
I'm amazed people are still bringing cases to this supreme court hoping they'll do the right thing.
I bet they started before the supreme court was openly stacked.
I'm not sure how much it should matter, but neither of the cars were in use by the owner, and both were confiscated with drivers who had drugs on them. I'm not saying right or wrong, but cops didn't just snag the cars and bounce. ACAB.
I'm not sure how much it should matter
I know exactly how much: not one whit. The cops stole legal property from people who themselves hadn't broken the law.
If someone committed perjury while astride my bicycle, I'd still ask for my bike back after cops finished questioning it.
Even if they had been the ones to break the law, the police should not be able to take anything, let alone without any due process, in the first place unless it's specifically to be temporarily held as evidence of a crime.
Saying the cars weren't in use by the owners is saying cops can confiscate parked cars. Adding a bit about drugs, which should be legal and regulated, is just saying cops can steal your stuff as long as they claim you did something wrong.
You are saying it was right by blaming the victims.
Sounds like personal use amounts though. One of Marijuana and the other meth. I can understand impounding the car and having to pay the also a crime tow amount. But to just take the car, when it's not being used to traffic drugs is complete BS.
I'm frankly surprised they didn't also arrest the owners anyway.
It's a lot more paperwork to charge someone with a crime.
Civil forfeiture is such a scam. Just corrupt cops stealing stuff.
I'll never understand how the US, of all the places in the world, in the world, tolerates a law that allows the state to forfeit private property without due process.
Not a scam if it's legal. And it's legal. It's legal theft.
Legal and abjectly unconstitutional.