Rand Paul: Protect Property Rights and Restore Due Process

Audit the Fed is not the only pro-liberty legislation introduced by Senator Rand Paul this year. Senator Paul has also introduced the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act) Act (S. 255/HR 540), which forbids the government from sizing  property unless the goverment proves that the property’s owner intended to use the property in the commission of a crime.

The FAIR Act also limits the “profit motive” in civil asset forfeitures by requiring all revenues gained from assets seizures be placed in the Treasury Department’s general funds instead of going directly to the Justice Department’s coffers. Hopefully, knowing that the money from civil asset forfeiture will go to fund Obamacare or Common Core instead of the federal officials who took the property will dampen the Justice Department’s enthusiasm for asset forfeiture. The bill also forbids the federal government from working with the state governments on asset forfeiture. The FAIR Act also limits the “profit motive” in civil asset forfeitures by requiring all revenues gained from assets seizures be placed in the Treasury Department’s general funds instead of going directly to the Justice Department’s coffers.

As Senator Paul stated upon introducing the bill:

The federal government has made it far too easy for government agencies to take and profit from the property of those who have not been convicted of a crime. The FAIR Act will ensure that government agencies no longer profit from taking the property of U.S. citizens without due process, while maintaining the ability of courts to order the surrender of proceeds of crime. I will continue to do all I can to protect the rights of Americans and ensure that their Fifth Amendment rights are no longer infringed upon,” Sen. Paul said.

You can read the text of the bill here. Jacob Sullivan of REASON has more on the bill here.

Campaign for Liberty activists who support Senator Paul’s efforts to reign in Asset Forfeiture should contact their Senators and Representatives to ask them to support the FAIR Act.