". . . ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." That is the last part of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Although Civil Forfeiture has been around
for a long long time, I believe it is that very sentence at the end of the fifth amendment that was supposed to prevent it from happening in the United States. I just remember President Reagan announcing using civil forfeiture as a weapon in the 'war on drugs'. Then when I read that last sentence of the fifth amendment, I thought to myself how much that civil forfeiture was going against the Constitution. In plain English. I sure wish there was something I/we could or should have done back then about it because it is now a real huge 'genie' that we really need to get back into the bottle.
This story here is where we are now with it. If you didn't know, there is now a huge incentive for any law enforcement officer to confiscate just about anything of value you have. It is just sad and plain ass wrong. The retired marine featured in the video is (of course) suing for not only his money back, but for the fact it was taken in the first place.
Marine veteran suing NHP for seizing his $87,000 in life savings during traffic stop
