Cheers went up from several quarters, including this one, in December and January when the Department of Justice pulled back on its “equitable sharing” forfeiture program, which provides state law enforcement a backdoor way to profit from asset forfeiture to a greater extent than their own state laws would let them do. Payments under the program were halted in December (because federal funds had run short) and then, in the final days of his service as Attorney General, Eric Holder announced that he would apply new rules limiting the scope of the practice.
Now the flow of money has resumed, albeit under the more restrictive new rules. “Given this week’s announcement, the chances that the Obama Administration will take further steps to rein in forfeiture abuse in its final year seem slim.” [Adam Bates/Cato, Scott Shackford, Ilya Somin, Santa Fe New Mexican (views of Brad Cates)] More: Trevor Burrus and Randal John Meyer.
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