Supreme Court Says No to Policing for Profit

[Midwest Player]

All I got to say is it is about time.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...rbg-timbs.html

[Norm]

Thanks for posting this. It's a very important ruling. It's still not enough. My reading suggests that many such violations will still occur and require expensive lawyering to recover confiscated goods, including cash.

[Three]

So are the state and local governments going to start giving back all the money and property they stole?

[noballsman]

dam, i love the car auctions from those things lol.

[SiMi]

Hi, all!

Sadly, I agree with Norm's reading of the Timbs opinion. The greedy pigs in Indiana were simply too greedy and argued that the US Constitution's 8th amendment 'excessive fines' clause doesn't apply to the states or, alternatively, that it doesn't apply to in rem actions (actions against property). Those are both pretty silly arguments these days and it was easy enough that the court issued a rare UNANIMOUS decision. The case was remanded back to the lower court to determine whether forfeiture of a $42,000 vehicle is "excessive" given the maximum fine for the alleged offense is $10,000. It's not a huge ruling but at least it makes a dent in the grossly abusive and unconstitutional area of civil forfeiture.

I suspect most states have some protections in their constitutions that are not being aggressively argued by victims of civil forfeiture scams in addition to the 4th and 5th amendment protections found in the US Constitution.

Best to all,
SiMi

[Three]

But how could asset forfeiture when you are even charged with anything be justified since there is no fine for being a citizen or looking suspicious.

[Stealth]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally someone in our governement got their head out their ass to see how ludicrous these actions had been.

Now, how about retroactive rewards to people subjected to such unconstitutional events! (and I am not one of them, but I support those who were!)

[Buckster]

That's great news, but gee wiz you'd think they could find a more flattering picture of the Notorious RBG. Cut the girl some slack!