"How Much Private Property is the Government Stealing in Your State?"
Writing at Big Government, Bob Ewing of the Institute for Justice explains how asset forfeiture laws put property rights at risk and calls on citizens in every state to help IJ's attorneys fight back:
Our forfeiture campaign follows in the footsteps of our eminent domain work. In courtrooms across the country, we will keep fighting the government to secure the bedrock American principle of private property rights.
Even though IJ has had tremendous success in courts, eminent domain abuse was stopped in large part by grassroots activists. We desperately need a similar grassroots backlash against civil forfeiture. Simply put, we need your help.
Here's one of the examples of asset forfeiture from Ewing's piece:
As a 77-year-old woman living alone with multiple medical problems, Margaret [Davis] left her Pennsylvania home unlocked so her neighbors could regularly check on her. One day while the police were chasing alleged drug dealers through her neighborhood, they all ran through Margaret's house.
The dealers dropped some of their stash on Margaret's floor, in plain sight.
Instead of apologizing to Margaret for the traumatic experience, the government seized her house.
Read the rest here. Radley Balko reports on the asset forfeiture racket here.
