‘Americans no longer have to be guilty to be stripped of their property, rights and liberties’
It’s been called by some “a modern-day form of highway robbery,” but the Supreme Court nevertheless has gone along with it.
It’s the practice by police of using delay tactics when they confiscate cash, jewelry, cars and other valuables from people who sometimes are completely innocent of any offense.
They are “asset forfeiture” cases and often involve no criminal charge against the property owner, according to a report from the Rutherford Institute, which fights in America’s courts for constitutional, religious and civil rights.
The latest high court action came in a 6-3 decision in Culley v. Marshall, where the justices held that there are “no due process protections for citizens in asset forfeiture proceedings to have an early court hearing to contest the government keeping possession of their seized property while they await trial.”
Lawyers for the Rutherford were joined by those from the ACLU and Cato Institute to argue that an early hearing was needed to “protect citizens against the government’s delay tactics, which make it difficult for individuals innocent of any wrongdoing to recover their property in a timely manner from police who stand to profit from the forfeiture.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch said it is a problem to have police delay proceedings and keep citizens’ private property for as long as a year or more.