I'm Really Mad at Sessions (and Possibly Trump) This Morning

[Ben]

Sessions is introducing policy today that will EXPAND asset forfeiture and make it easier for LE to seize property and keep the proceeds, including not only pre-conviction, but pre-indictement.

I'm absolutely fuming at this. It's the exact opposite of what my expectation was for a Trump administration. There seems to be plenty of outrage across the aisle, so hopefully it will be stopped. I haven't seen yet what Trump's take is, but I will be sorely disappointed if he praises it. Perhaps his sons, lurking on gun forums, will talk some sense into him, because I have one scary scenario for the Sessions defense of "only the bad people":

Year = 2021

President Hillary Clinton
AG Kamala Harris

Guns=drugs.

I've just posted a Google search link so that you can see that the outrage runs left to right.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sessions+asset+forfeiture&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[TommyGunn]

Seems to me that the libs would love this if Obama/Clinton/Carter/INSERT LIB OF CHOICE HERE had done this.  
I like Sessions.  Overall I think he will be a good AG.

BUT THIS STINKS.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Not that I think it'll actually accomplish anything, but here we go:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-civil-forfeiture

[dogmush]

Trump has been pretty clear from the outset that he thinks the fed.gov (under him) is the answer to our ills.  He's also been pretty clear he's not overly concerned about how it treats those he thinks are causing those ills.  He also has a history of being OK with .gov stealing *expletive deleted*it for his own personal gain.

So not a big surprise.

[TommyGunn]

Trump has been pretty clear from the outset that he thinks the fed.gov (under him) is the answer to our ills.  He's also been pretty clear he's not overly concerned about how it treats those he thinks are causing those ills.  He also has a history of being OK with .gov stealing *expletive deleted*it for his own personal gain.

So not a big surprise.

And yet,  he has by executive order been taking out many regulations and other govt decreed rules that have been choking off business and people getting ahead since he took office. 
Give him  some credit.....

[Fitz]

Gee. I'm so surprised. So super surprised.

[White Horseradish]

I like Sessions.  Overall I think he will be a good AG.

BUT THIS STINKS.

"I like this soup. Overall, I think it's tasty. But this thing floating in it is an actual turd. "

 

[RocketMan]

I long ago came to the conclusion there is not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican parties in their desire to expand the size and scope of the Federal government and reduce the liberty of citizens.

[Regolith]

Sessions is the worse thing about the Trump administration, by far.

[TommyGunn]

"I like this soup. Overall, I think it's tasty. But this thing floating in it is an actual turd. "

 

Ok, pick a politician or public official you like,  and show me you have always agreed 100% with everything he's done or said.

[TommyGunn]

Sessions is the worse thing about the Trump administration, by far.

 Should be " worst,"   not "worse."    

And by the way,  while the menagerie here at APS  might not love Sessions,   what is being done has put some hurdles in front of the govt for forfeiture as well.   There's also a lot of BS being circulated about this as well.  Still not a great thing to do though.

Sessions has a good record in Alabama as a conservative.  

[Ben]

what is being done has put some hurdles in front of the govt for forfeiture as well.  

I'm not sure that there are any acceptable hurdles for pre-conviction forfeiture. While you can legally circumvent "innocent until proven guilty", you can't do so constitutionally.

[Sindawe]

I long ago came to the conclusion there is not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican parties in their desire to expand the size and scope of the Federal government and reduce the liberty of citizens.

Quoted for truth /emphatic cough

Well, there is a difference.

In the lies they speak to curry votes.

Forfeiture of assets sans criminal conviction in a court of law is nothing more than the acts of a highwayman. If there were justice in this world, those who perpetrate such crimes would meet a highwayman's end, hanging in chains under the hot sun as amusement for people and nourishment for the corvids.

[TommyGunn]

I'm not sure that there are any acceptable hurdles for pre-conviction forfeiture. While you can legally circumvent "innocent until proven guilty", you can't do so constitutionally.

   If it were "legal" to circumvent "innocent until proven guilty," would it not also be constitutional?  Or are you subtly taking a poke at the concept that not all laws are consistent with the constitution?

I'm sorta thinkin' the later.  But I still want to look into this decision more thoroughly.

[Ben]

Or are you subtly taking a poke at the concept that not all laws are consistent with the constitution?

Not even being subtle about it. :)

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if half the laws on the books don't pass constitutional muster.

[Fitz]

I don't want to hear that their new plan for unconstitutional bullshit now has some roadblocks

The only acceptable answer for pre-conviction asset forfeiture is "it should be immediately and totally ceased "

[White Horseradish]

Ok, pick a politician or public official you like,  and show me you have always agreed 100% with everything he's done or said.

I don't have one like that.

I'm not going to call any of them "good overall", though.

[Firethorn]

I don't want to hear that their new plan for unconstitutional bullshit now has some roadblocks

The only acceptable answer for pre-conviction asset forfeiture is "it should be immediately and totally ceased "

I agree.  I don't care what the supreme court says, this is exactly the sort of *expletive deleted*it the founders wrote the constitution to prevent.

[Pb]

Sessions is a typical conservative.  Sometimes that is good (guns).  He does have the typical conservative hatred of criminals (which I usually share).  This leads him to a disdain for the 4th Amendment (which I adamantly disagree with).

This is completely standard for conservatives, unfortunately.  Trump is also pro-asset forfeiture.

[RoadKingLarry]

Ok, pick a politician or public official you like,  and show me you have always agreed 100% with everything he's done or said.

Well, I currently fully endorse Ted Kennedy's most recent position.  

[Perd Hapley]

The Federalist blog has called this "an exercise in swamp-filling."

[RevDisk]

The Federalist blog has called this "an exercise in swamp-filling."

Ayep. Plus you have to love the extreme anti-marijuana stuff as well. Because screw the states and its voters. 

[TommyGunn]

Well, I currently fully endorse Ted Kennedy's most recent position.  

So do I!

[TechMan]

I'm not sure that there are any acceptable hurdles for pre-conviction forfeiture. While you can legally circumvent "innocent until proven guilty", you can't do so constitutionally.

It appears that The Institute for Justice is making some type of headway. http://ij.org/press-release/philadelphia-forfeiture-victims-can-continue-lawsuit-state-court-administrators-judges/

Back story here: http://ij.org/case/philadelphia-forfeiture/

The most terrifying place in Philadelphia is Courtroom 478 in City Hall. This is where property owners enter Philadelphia’s Civil Forfeiture Machine. Civil forfeiture is a little-known legal device that allows law enforcement officials to take your property, sell it and pocket the proceeds—even if you have done nothing wrong.

Philadelphia’s automated, machine-like forfeiture scheme is unprecedented in size. From 2002 to 2012, Philadelphia took in over $64 million in forfeiture funds—or almost $6 million per year. In 2011 alone, the city’s prosecutors filed 6,560 forfeiture petitions to take cash, cars, homes and other property. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office used over $25 million of that $64 million to pay salaries, including the salaries of the very prosecutors who brought the forfeiture actions. This is almost twice as much as what all other Pennsylvania counties spent on salaries combined.

[RevDisk]

No conflict of interest there. The more the Philly prosecutors steal, the more they pay themselves. Yep.