Posted on 02/20/2019 10:16:32 AM PST by NRx
WASHINGTON Siding with a small time drug offender in Indiana whose $42,000 Land Rover was seized by law enforcement officials, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the Constitution places limits on civil forfeiture laws that allow states and localities to take and keep private property used to commit crimes.
Civil forfeiture is a popular way to raise revenue, and its use has been the subject of widespread criticism across the political spectrum.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Eighth Amendment, which bars excessive fines, limits the ability of the federal government to seize property. On Wednesday, the court ruled that the clause also applies to the states.
Previously, the Supreme Court had never squarely addressed that question. It had addressed the status of the Excessive Fines Clause, but only in the context of the federal government. The court had, however, previously ruled that most protections under the Bill of Rights apply to the states or were incorporated against them, in the legal jargon under the 14th Amendment, one of the post-Civil War amendments.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for eight justices, said the question was an easy one. The historical and logical case for concluding that the 14th Amendment incorporates the Excessive Fines Clause is overwhelming, she wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Agree. Absence of video, absence any news source other than ComDem channels writing about her’; the judgment of her condition is not resolved.
At her age with her history it is wise to not make predictions.
Hillary during the election is a fine example of not knowing what is real and what is projected BS.
Hillary is still not in good health. But she is still making noise about running again. Headshake.
The constitution doesn’t make sense without M&M.
It was not the first case that ruled that the Court had the power of Judicial Review of federal laws. See Hylton vs United States..
It seems as though there was a question in the mind of Justice Chase as to the courts power to declare laws unconstitutional.
In this case they did not strike down the law so the question of the courts power to strike down a law as unconstitutional was still unresolved.
Is there any wonder why lawyers run the world?
Thanks for the post which, of course, does not address the issue of Court sovereignty which I see as basic to a constitution worthy of the name.
There has to be a Final Arbiter in a constitutional government.
I think our experiences show that it should not be an unelected, appointed for life judiciary.
There should be a way for the states to override a court decision.
There is no way that the USSC should have been able to to force gay marriage on the states or to force abortion on the states.
Judicial restraint is long gone is not coming back. Something needs to be done to reign in the courts.
It appears to be a structural defect. There is one way to overturn an adverse finding by the Supreme Court and that is a constitutional amendment which, even in times of comity, is very difficult to procure and in times like these almost impossible.
The idea was to remove the courts from popular control and abuse as the Founders feared democrats more than aristocracy, a judgement in which I agree.
Threw her a nice uncontroversial bone as a goodbye present?
What happened to Al Capone’s assets after his tax evasion conviction (which was a negotiated amount of taxes evaded, decided between the defendant, and the tax authorities, including federal revenuers)? He went to prison— what happened to his assets— the Miami home was in his wife’s name apparently— but cash was all over chi-town and miami.
I din’t know
Not that it ever made any difference but I strongly opposed eminent domain seizure by private companies for profit. Also I opposed policing for profit by using seizure and forfeiture of private property related to criminal activity unless absolutely proven by the government. Both are representative of tyranny.
“El Chapo got to the court”
GMTA - great minds think alike...
It has been suggested El Chapo’s $12 billion cash seizure be used to help fund The Trump Wall construction.
Arrestees arent paid a penny for their dollars stolen.
The date posted as the print date of this article is interesting.....We are 7 month away from that date-—into the future.
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