Asset forfeiture laws in many states allow the police to seize property that has supposedly been used to commit a crime, and then keep the proceeds for themselves. Often, these laws victimize people who have not been convicted of any crime, and indeed did not even know that their property might have been misused. They […]
Tag Archives | Alvarez v. Smith
Asset Forfeiture: “A License to Steal”
Radley Balko has an interesting article in Reason detailing the many abuses of the asset forfeiture system, which often allows police to seize property without compensation – even in cases where the owners have not been convicted of any crime: Over the past three decades, it has become routine in the United States for state, […]
Supreme Court Dismisses Potentially Important Property Rights Case as Moot
The Supreme Court has dismissed as moot, Alvarez v. Smith, a potentially important property rights case [HT: Josh Blackman]. As I explained in this Findlaw column, Alvarez involved an important issue in constitutional property law. The plaintiffs were property owners whose cars or other possessions had been seized by Chicago police and held for many […]
The Wall Street Journal on Alvarez v. Smith
By Ilya Somin on October 25, 2009 7:33 pm in Criminal Law, Due Process Clause Property Rights, Property Rights, War on Drugs
The Wall Street Journal has an editorial urging the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the property owners in Alvarez v. Smith, an important property rights case that I have been trying to draw attention to for a long time (see my recent Findlaw column on it and previous posts on the subject here […]
My Findlaw Column on Alvarez v. Smith – A Key Property Rights Case Argued Before the Supreme Court Today
By Ilya Somin on October 14, 2009 3:12 pm in Due Process Clause Property Rights, Property Rights, Supreme Court
Findlaw has just posted a column I wrote on Alvarez v. Smith, an important Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause property rights case that was heard by the Supreme Court today: Today, the Supreme Court hears Alvarez v. Smith, an important case that will affect the constitutional property rights of many people around the country but […]