Supreme Court Rules Against Police Shakedowns

In a rare unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the practice by local governments of seizing property and using excessive fines to fund government operations was a violation of Eighth Amendment protections. Timbs v. Indiana

In this particular case, Indiana had taken a Range Rover (value about $42,000) from Timbs when he was accused of a minor drug charge.  This practice, known as civil forfeiture, has been used by law enforcement to confiscate billions of dollars worth of property from citizens.  Originally sold as a method to undermine the financial structures of large criminal organizations, in many jurisdictions this method is merely used to pad law enforcement coffers.  Some jurisdictions do not even require that formal charges be filed or a crime be proven in order to seize property.

In Mr. Timbs case, he did plead guilty.  However, the Supreme Court determined that taking the Land Rover was "grossly disproportionate to the gravity of Timb's offense." 

It appears that this case deals mainly with the amounts which may be seized rather than attacking the act of seizure itself.  Hopefully another case will make it to the court which protects the rights of people who have property seized who have not been charged with criminal acts.  So far all of these cases of which A Conscious Conservative is aware have been settled out of court at lower levels.  It will be interesting to see how states adjust their policies with regards to this ruling.