Until a decade or two ago, such laws targeted primarily customs violators, but today more than 100 federal laws authorize federal agents to confiscate private property allegedly involved in violations of statutes on wildlife, gambling, narcotics, immigration, money laundering, etc. The vast expansion of government's forfeiture power epitomizes the demise of property rights in modem America.
Federal agents can confiscate private property with no court order and no proof of legal violations.
Law-enforcement officials love forfeiture laws because a hefty percentage of the takings often go directly to their coffers. Forfeiture policies achieved national scandal status beginning in the early 1990s. In many forfeiture cases, innocence is irrelevant. The Supreme Court further tilted the legal playing field against ordinary people last year in a decision in a case involving the innocent co-owner of confiscated property. The court ruled 5-4 that the seizure did not violate the wife's constitutional rights even though she clearly was not complicit in her husband's illicit behavior.