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Supreme Court Rejects Guilty Until Proven Innocent

by | May 3, 2017 | ,

Says States Cannot Keep Money From The Innocent With so many constitutional rights under siege, it’s welcome news when one of them is defended. Reaffirming the presumption of innocence, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Colorado law last month that forced criminal defendants to prove their innocence when the defendants’ convictions were already overturned. As the court explained, “Absent those convictions, Colorado would have no legal right to exact and retain petitioners’ funds.” Not only is this decision a win for due process, the court’s ruling in Nelson v. Colorado could have major...

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Arizona Now the 20th State to Pass Forfeiture Reform

by | Apr 13, 2017 | ,

IJ Lawsuit on Behalf of Innocent Elderly Couple Will Continue Today, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed bipartisan legislation to meaningfully reform Arizona civil forfeiture laws. Under civil forfeiture, law enforcement agencies can seize property merely suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Unlike criminal forfeiture, civil forfeiture allows the government to permanently keep property without charging anyone with—let alone convicting them of—a crime. And Arizona law allows the seizing agencies to keep up to 100 percent of the proceeds from forfeited property. “Arizona’s civil...

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DEA Seized $3.2 Billion in Cash Without Filing Charges or Judicial Oversight

by | Apr 3, 2017 | ,

Yesterday [March 29], the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report criticizing the DOJ’s seizures and forfeitures of cash. According to the report, of the nearly 100,000 cash seizures that occurred since 2007, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was responsible for 80 percent—a total value of $4.15 billion. Eighty-one percent of those seizures, a total value of $3.2 billion, were forfeited administratively, meaning without charging someone with a crime or any judicial oversight. As the OIG report notes, “asset seizure and forfeiture also...

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Israel Winner of the 2003 Iraq Oil War

Israel Winner of the 2003 Iraq Oil War

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From the Foreword by Lawrence B. Wilkerson: “[T]he debate over whether oil was a principal reason for the 2003 invasion has waxed and waned, with one camp arguing that it absolutely was, while the other argues the precise opposite.” “Mr. Vogler, himself a former...

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