Policing for profit may end due to the SCOTUS

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Asset forfeiture may become a dead issue if the Justice both Left and Right have their way. Slate has a good article on why this will happen.
So while Gorsuch and Sotomayor led the fight on Wednesday, there’s probably a cross-ideological coalition of justices prepared to invalidate excessive forfeitures. Such a ruling would reflect broad agreement across the ideological spectrum that forfeiture has gone too far. Among the organizations that wrote or joined amicus briefs supporting Timbs are the progressive ACLU and NAACP; the libertarian Cato and Goldwater institutes, as well as the Pacific Legal Foundation; the conservative Chamber of Commerce and Judicial Watch; and the fundamentalist Foundation for Moral Law, which is “dedicated to the defense of God-given liberties.”

Only Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito expressed any interest in allowing civil asset forfeiture to continue unabated. A majority of the court seems poised to rule that all 50 states must stop seizing property in a way that’s grossly disproportionate to the crime committed—a holy grail of criminal justice reformers. In one fell swoop, defendants will receive new protections against the legalized theft of their stuff. And Tyson Timbs, who attended Wednesday’s argument, can demand that Indiana return the Land Rover that it never had a right to seize in the first place.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/201 ... iture.html

When the ruling goes through there will be a bunch of LEOs, along with the governments, that will have to make up the budgets with tax money, crying the blues,
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Policing for profit may end due to the SCOTUS

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 12:58 pm Asset forfeiture may become a dead issue if the Justice both Left and Right have their way. Slate has a good article on why this will happen.
So while Gorsuch and Sotomayor led the fight on Wednesday, there’s probably a cross-ideological coalition of justices prepared to invalidate excessive forfeitures. Such a ruling would reflect broad agreement across the ideological spectrum that forfeiture has gone too far. Among the organizations that wrote or joined amicus briefs supporting Timbs are the progressive ACLU and NAACP; the libertarian Cato and Goldwater institutes, as well as the Pacific Legal Foundation; the conservative Chamber of Commerce and Judicial Watch; and the fundamentalist Foundation for Moral Law, which is “dedicated to the defense of God-given liberties.”

Only Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito expressed any interest in allowing civil asset forfeiture to continue unabated. A majority of the court seems poised to rule that all 50 states must stop seizing property in a way that’s grossly disproportionate to the crime committed—a holy grail of criminal justice reformers. In one fell swoop, defendants will receive new protections against the legalized theft of their stuff. And Tyson Timbs, who attended Wednesday’s argument, can demand that Indiana return the Land Rover that it never had a right to seize in the first place.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/201 ... iture.html

When the ruling goes through there will be a bunch of LEOs, along with the governments, that will have to make up the budgets with tax money, crying the blues,
Glad to see Gorsuch on this side. So far, I've been impressed/relieved with his judgement based on merit/law rather than politics. I hope to see similar from Kavanaugh.

Re: Policing for profit may end due to the SCOTUS

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So it will be either a 6-3 or 6-2 or even a 7-2 ruling, depending on Kavanaugh. The 4 liberals, Gorsuch and Thomas, who is vigorously anti-seizures (who knew?) can make it a pretty definitive ruling.
Ironically, in such a scenario, as now the most senior Justice, Thomas would take the Chief Justice's role in assigning who gets to write the opinion.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Policing for profit may end due to the SCOTUS

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Not every issue that comes before SCOTUS is political (right vs left), there are some issues like this that are plain wrong. Glad to see asset forfeiture will be killed, soon. How judges ever allowed that is beyond me, that is the epitome of "injustice" - no court, no trial, no defense, no justice. I'd really like to see some civil suits bankrupting towns and cities who have used asset forfeiture to maintain services.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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