Civil forfeiture has become a significant government intrusion in recent years. While it remains a viable instrument for federal agents enforcing customs laws and fighting international crime, misguided policies and misaligned incentives foster abuses and raise grave constitutional concerns.
Each year, federal and state forfeiture programs allow law enforcement to seize more than $3 billion in cash and property from thousands of people – often without ever charging them with a crime. There are also serious questions as to whether civil courts using lower burdens of proof are the appropriate means to enforce government anti-crime policies.
Civil forfeiture further jeopardizes the relationship between police and their communities when vulnerable residents who cannot afford to challenge small-value seizures are targeted. There are also questionable benefits when financially-stressed departments prioritize revenue-generating forfeitures over arrests, drug interdiction, and crime-fighting.
CEI is addressing these issues through its new Forfeiture Reform Initiative: engaging federal and state policymakers to implement much-needed reforms and educating the public about their constitutional rights to stop improper seizures in the first place.
No person should have to fear for their property while engaged in lawful activities or lose it without ever being convicted of a crime.
Featured Posts
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Some thoughts on Constitution Day
As I drove into work today, it occurred to me: we so often take for granted the extraordinary power that the automobile gives us. Once…
Fox News
Federal judge rules that 156-year-old ban on at-home distilling is unconstitutional
Fox News cites CEI’s Devin Watkins and Dan Greenberg on Hobby Distillers Association v. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau et al: Devin Watkins,…
Blog
Sunshine in Wyoming’s civil forfeiture
Transparency in civil forfeiture took a small step forward last week when the Wyoming Liberty Group published its latest report. One difficulty in writing about…
Search Posts
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Mississippi Voters Pass Initiative Restricting Eminent Domain Powers
Yesterday, voters in Mississippi overwhelmingly passed Initiative 31, which will limit eminent domain condemnations for private benefit. Despite opposition from Republican Governor Hailey…
Blog
Spectrum Crunch Hype is No Scam
In a recent Washington Times op-ed, Mark Hyman of the Sinclair Broadcast Group makes some compelling arguments calling for a spectrum inventory. His suggestion…
Blog
Wealthy Chanhassen, Minnesota, NIMBYs Oppose Retail Competition, Support Development Socialism
Reading the tired, silly claims of left-wing, anti-Wal-Mart activists generally makes me yawn. But it annoys me to see some of my former neighbors from…
Blog
Can Fraud Be Immunized by Giving the Defrauder Certain Governmental Powers Over the Victims?
Can a private organization that has been delegated some government regulatory powers claim absolute government immunity against lawsuits when it engages in fraud against those…
Reason
Warrantless GPS Tracking, Union Dues, and Fleeting Expletives: The Supreme Court Suits Up for Another Term
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief in Sackett v. EPA
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed an amicus brief in September…
News Release
CEI Urges Supreme Court to Let Property Owners Promptly Contest EPA Claims of Wetlands Jurisdiction
Washington, D.C., September 30, 2011— The Competitive Enterprise Institute today filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow property owners to promptly…
Reason
Think Tanks Back Mayo In High Court Patent Fight
Reason
Obama Administration Planning to Freeze Foreclosures
Blog
Eminent Domain and Redevelopment: Down in the Dumps
Remember New London, Connecticut, the dying industrial town that threw property rights under the bus thanks to 2005’s notoriously awful Kelo decision? I’m sure your…
Blog
Obama Justice Department Forces Banks to Make Risky Loans, Planting the Seeds of a Future Financial Crisis
The Wall Street Journal today writes about how the Obama administration is repeating the "mistakes of the past by intimidating banks into lending to…
Biersdorf and Associates
Eminent Domain Abuse and Attorney Fee Recovery
Blog
Eminent Domain, Rick Perry, and the Trans-Texas Corridor
Attorney Alan Ackerman has a post up highlighting and commenting on an article that argues that critics of Texas Governor Rick Perry from the right…
Blog
The “Obama Law” Devastates Impoverished People in the World’s Second Poorest Country, The Congo
People are going hungry, pulling their children out of school due to poverty, and joining criminal gangs to make ends meet in the poorest region…
Blog
How Many Billions to Bail Out Borrowers Who Fraudulently Took Out Liar Loans?
The government is looking into the possibility of bailing out underwater mortgage borrowers, including speculators and McMansion owners. It’s also seeking to…
Blog
Obama Administration Crafting Yet Another Bailout: Speculators and McMansion Owners May Benefit
As if America didn't already have enough bailouts, the Obama administration is planning yet another -- one that could enrich "McMansion homeowners and property…
Blog
NYC Bureaucrat Tries to Harsh Urban Apiarist’s Buzz for Not “Watering” Beehive
Although New York City reversed its position on urban beekeeping in Spring 2010 and legalized the practice, there are apparently still some government employees with…
Blog
Planning to Disaster: The Zoning Apparat vs. Paula Deen’s Chickens
Those who know me are aware that one of the two weird -- so I've been told -- policy issues I'm obsessed with is urban…
Blog
What Really Makes “Postcards from Hell”
Foreign Policy just ran another “Postcards from Hell” feature detailing the worst of the worst from their “Failed States Index.” It’s worth a look.
Blog
Obama Administration Votes Against England, Supporting Argentine-Backed Resolution on the Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are English-speaking and have been part of the United Kingdom for generations. Although Argentina unsuccessfully tried to conquer them in 1982, they…
Blog
Planning to Disaster: San Diego and California’s Sustainable Communities Strategies
The San Diego metro area has been institutionalizing its boring reputation by undertaking in recent years what is arguably the most aggressive regional planning effort…
Blog
Barney Frank Used Influence with Fannie Mae, the Failed Mortgage Giant Bailed Out by Taxpayers
Former House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) tenaciously opposed efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage…
Blog
Somin on the Judicial Reaction to Kelo
George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin posted online the other day his paper on the judicial reaction to the Supreme Court’s infamous…
Blog
Donald Trump: Casino Welfare Queen and Takings-Abuser of Widows
With Donald Trump ending his quixotic-yet-simultaneously-cynical candidacy for president, this might not have the punch it could have had on his campaign, but I still…
Blog
Republicans Filibuster Left-Wing Lawyer’s Nomination to Key Appeals Court; Block Confirmation of Goodwin Liu
"Goodwin Liu's nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appears to be done for" thanks to a Republican filibuster, says David Freddoso of…
Blog
Vote Expected Soon on Judicial Nomination of Left-Wing Law Professor Goodwin Liu
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has filed a cloture petition on the pending nomination of Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit…
Blog
Tom Palmer on the Morality of Profit
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation‘s Tom Palmer has a new video explaining why profits are moral and how the profit motive brings out…
Blog
Planning to Disaster: Paso Robles, Calif. Adopts Form-Based Code
I’ve previously written about the dangers of form-based codes (see here, for instance), the Euclidian zoning replacements that, rather than gut government planning abilities,…
Boston Herald
Lying with Statistics
Boston.com
Case for Bigger Convention Hall has Familiar Ring
Blog
Stated Housing Preferences vs. Revealed Housing Reality
In March, the National Association of Realtors released the 2011 Community Preference Survey. Some greeniac urbanists are touting the survey results…
Blog
Defending Nature via Property Rights
Elizabeth Brubaker describes why the institutions of private property are needed to defend nature, and why modern control policies that undermine them contribute to pollution…
Blog
U.S. Property Rights Protections Continue to Decline
This morning, I attended the Property Rights Alliance’s launch presentation of the 2011 International Property Rights Index. Overall, the United States declined to…
Blog
Federal Government and State Attorneys General Push Arbitrary Mortgage Bailout
Back before the election, intellectuals with ties to the Obama administration proposed a trillion-dollar bailout for some (but not all) underwater mortgage borrowers, as…
Blog
Bidding Bon Voyage to Nationalized Wind Insurance
According to several Gulf Coast legislators, the idea of adding wind insurance to the National Flood Insurance Program is not going to happen anytime soon.
Boston.com
What’s the catch with NOAA’s catch-shares program?
A year ago, Daniel Bubb worked as a fisherman in Gloucester, Mass., operating a fishing business with more than 60 employees. Government intervention has a…
Blog
Texas Needs Real Eminent Domain Reform, Not More Empty Rhetoric
Last month, I briefly discussed the bogus eminent domain "reform" legislation that unanimously passed the Texas Senate. Over at RedState, Texas Public Policy Foundation…
Blog
Egyptian Military Seeks to Reverse Economic Reforms
The military government that replaced Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak is now moving to reverse recent reforms that gave Egypt solid economic growth in the last several…
One News Now
TX property owners unprotected
Blog
Michigan May Fire Salvo Against Regressive Debit Card Price Controls
In the battle against Obamacare, the shots heard ’round the world were resolutions against the law by state legislatures. These resolutions led to court cases that…
American City and County
PPPs are good for transportation infrastructure, bad for real estate
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 10, 2011: How Not to Stop Eminent Domain Abuse
Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner takes a close look at an eminent domain reform bill just passed by the Texas State Senate.
Blog
Texas Senate Passes Bogus Eminent Domain Reform Bill
Here’s some more bad news for those of us seeking real eminent domain reform, rather than style-over-substance feel-good legislation. Here’s the Dallas Morning News…
Blog
Congress Considering “Kill Switch” for Capitalism
Introduced last summer, a bill affording President Obama executive power over private Internet companies in the event of a “national cyberemergency” is returning this year,…
Study
Restore the Constitutional Right to Property
Liberate to Stimulate Index The right to property is an essential part of a free society, and widespread private property ownership is…
AASHTO
Competitive Enterprise Institute Report Examines Limitations of PPPs
Blog
US Loses Ground in 2011 Index of Economic Freedom
The U.S. dropped from 8 to 9 on the just-released “Index of Economic Freedom” put out by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street…
Blog
Villaraigosa: Brown’s Elimination of Redevelopment Agencies “a Non-Starter”
Pro-smart-growth, “green” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is upset with Governor Jerry Brown’s remarkably sensible decision to shut down the state’s 425 redevelopment agencies, including…
Study
The Limitations of Public-Private Partnerships
Government at all levels in the United States has been slowly moving away from grand central planning schemes and toward markets. One result has been…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Violates Property Rights and Equal-Protection Guarantees
Last week, I described how the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law passed last summer violates constitutional separation-of-powers safeguards by giving unaccountable bureaucrats the…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Violates Separation of Powers and Constitutional Checks and Balances
In a recent edition of the Washington Post, former White House counsel C. Boyden Gray noted that the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law passed…
AASHTO
If At First You Don’t Succeed. . .
AASHTO
Financial Stability Council Violates the Constitution (Letter to the Editor)
C. Boyden Gray’s Dec. 31 Washington Forum commentary, “Wall Street reform that flouts the law,” rightly criticized the secrecy, unchecked bureaucratic power and constitutional…
Study
Restore the Constitutional Right to Property
Full Document Available in PDF The right to property is an essential part of a free society, and widespread private property ownership…
One News Now
High court turns deaf ear to jilted business owners
Blog
Live Blogging: “Fixing The World Economy: Stresses And Solutions”
This is a Live Blog of a Thomson Reuters Event on “Fixing the World Economy.” The speakers are Dominique Strauss-Kahn, International Monetary Fund and Chrystia…
Blog
Interchange Price Controls: Gift to Big Merchants, Lump of Coal for Consumers and Community Financial Institutions
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve — at the direction of Congress in the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” bill — will give…
Blog
Supreme Court will not Hear Columbia University Eminent Domain Case
It was announced today that the U.S. Supreme Court will not take up a challenge to the Empire State Development Corporation’s property takings in…
One News Now
Wal-Mart Case Bigger Than Company
Blog
New Fast Food Restaurants Banned in South Los Angeles
New fast-food restaurants are now banned in South Los Angeles. Say goodbye to many entry-level jobs in that poor urban area. The cockamamie idea behind this ban is…
Blog
Seattle Land-Use Regulation Liberalization Redux
Stephen Smith of Market Urbanism responds to my response to his question, asking if I thought Seattle’s proposed land-use liberalization bill was a…
Blog
Seattle Land Use Liberalization Bill Fails to Address Key Problems
Stephen Smith of Market Urbanism asked me what I thought of proposed legislation in Seattle that would remove some restrictions on land use…
Blog
Real Estate Development and Generation Y
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I came across this article in Urban Land magazine, “Housing Gen Y: The Next Challenge for Cities,” by John McIlwain. In…
Blog
How Property Rights Saved the Pilgrims After the First Thanksgiving
In Reason Magazine, Nick Gillespie and Meredith Bragg write about how the establishment of property rights among the pilgrims made them more “industrious” and…
Blog
Obama Includes Toyota, Hyundai and Kia in 75,000 Jobs “Created” by GM Bailout
This post was coauthored by CEI Research Associate Andrew Kwiatkowski As we write, President Obama and Vice President Biden are doing a victory lap…
Blog
“Model” Foreign Aid Recipient Uses Foreign Aid to Repress Its Citizens
Ethiopia is considered a model recipient of foreign aid by international aid agencies, since it uses much of the aid on its people, rather than…
Blog
GM IPO Date Set for Tomorrow: What’s Good for New GM is Bad for the Rest of America
In his 1953 confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in the incoming Eisenhower administration, former General Motors CEO Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson was asked how…
Blog
Milton Friedman on Other People’s Money
Milton Friedman always had a way with words. His brilliance in the following video not only explains the moral problem with using other people’s money,…
Blog
Smart Growth Decreases Housing Affordability
Wendell Cox had an interesting article this week on his new findings on land-use regulation and housing prices. Long a critic of smart-growth…
Blog
Many Republican Campaign Signs Disappear or are Stolen
Enraged Democrats in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District attacked GOP activists and yanked signs for candidate Rob Hurt (R) off of private property. Hurt is…
Blog
Hugo Chavez Plans to Steal Golf Courses
I wrote recently how Hugo Chavez is stealing productive sectors of the Venezuela economy on its ‘Road to Serfdom.’ Now, Chavez has developed a…
Blog
Increase in American Corruption May Have Been Understated
Earlier, I wrote about how America had slipped to a historic low on the Global Corruption Index, becoming more corrupt. In retrospect, I think…
Blog
U.S. Slips to Historic Low in Global Corruption Index
America has slipped to a historic low in the global corruption index, Reuters reports, and it is no longer one of the 20 least…
Blog
“Rent Is Too Damn High” Candidate’s Rent is Actually Quite Low
Oh look, a politician building a campaign on the premise that he understands his constituents’ plight is actually…very far removed from the issues that are…
Blog
Rent Control: Why Is It So Bad?
When rent is “too damn high,” people move. Yet many cities still impose rotating rent controls, in a misguided attempt to make housing more…
Blog
Poker and Private Property in South Carolina
In South Carolina, the fate of five men has hung in the balance for the last four years. They crime they have been accused of…
Blog
Rent Is Too Damn High
Not much to add to this brilliant insight: The rent is too damn high! Jimmy McMillan doesn’t get into details about what he intends…
Blog
Building Height Restrictions: Where I Agree with Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias of the Center for American Progress links to a Washington Post article that notes that office rents in downtown D.C. are now…
Blog
Stop Coddling Mortgage Deadbeats
Right now, there’s a big manufactured outrage over the fact that at a few banks, paperwork errors occurred in foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal…
Newsletter
Central Planning, Stimulus and Tax Reform.
Chris Horner explains why the the "Livable Communities Act" is nothing more than a federal government power grab. Hans Bader argues against subsidizing waste. John…
Forbes
Hurricane Katrina, Houston And The Humanitarian Case Against Zoning
On a Monday morning in late August 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the…
Newsletter
Ethics in Congress, Urban Renewal and the Luxury of Environmentalism
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is facing ethics charges. Elected officials in Minneapolis and St. Paul try to lure suburban residents and shoppers back into the…
Newsletter
Elena Kagan, Five Years of Kelo and Offshore Oil Drilling
More details about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan come to light. Today is the 5-year anniversary of the landmark property rights decision in the case…
Daily Caller
Five Years After Kelo
Today marks the five-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s notorious Kelo v. New London decision. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court held that seizing…
Daily Caller
Dems Block Reform of Corrupt Mortgage Giants
In a party-line, 56-to-43 vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked any reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the corrupt, government-backed mortgage giants…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: March – April 2010
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the March-April…
Newsletter
Stevens’ Legal Legacy, Goldman Sachs and Internet Gambling
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring. The SEC is charging Goldman Sachs with securities fraud. Opponents of internet gambling are circulating a memo…
Syracuse - Opinion
Property Rights: Eminent domain law gives developers unfair leverage
Syracuse - Opinion
Locksmith laws in Florida
Newsletter
National ID, Eminent Domain, and the EPA
Legislators are working on an immigration reform plan that includes a biometric identification card for all American workers. The mayor of Detroit plans to employ…
Detroit News
Avoid Land Grabs while Downsizing Detroit
If history is any guide, Mayor Dave Bing’s recent announcement that he intends to pursue aggressive central planning to shrink Detroit is bad news. For…
California Eminent Domain Report
An Interesting Argument Concerning Whether Eminent Domain for Economic Development Makes Economic Sense
Study
This Land Ain’t your Land; this Land Is my Land
A Primer on Eminent Domain, Redevelopment, and Entrepreneurship…
News Release
Land-Grabs Put Entrepreneurs, Poor in Dire Spot
Washington, D.C., March 3, 2010 – When government seizes land from private owners to serve a purpose preferred by bureaucrats and big business, it…
Newsletter
Child Support Disputes, NFL Claims “Who Dat?” and Anti-terrorism Police Drills
Virginia legislators vote down a bill which would have forced non-custodial parents to pay child support for their children through college.
News Release
Report Card for the Obama Administration
One year ago today, Barack Obama took the oath of office as President of the United States. Since then, he and his appointees have had…
California Eminent Domain Report
Senate Panel Approves David Michaels
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: September – October 2009
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the September-October 2009 issue: …
California Eminent Domain Report
CPSIA: WSJ Reactions
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: July – August 2009
The July-August 2009 issue of the CEI Planet features coverage of CEI’s 25th Anniversary Gala, and articles on federal catastrophe insurance and TARP transparency.
