Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul and President Norman Singleton made the following statements on the reintroduction of the “Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act” (FAIR):
The FAIR Act limits incentives for federal, state, and local law enforcement to use civil asset forfeiture (more accurately called civil asset theft) by forbidding the use of equitable sharing, which allows state and local police departments to share proceeds from civil asset theft. Equitable sharing also allows state and local police to evade restrictions on the use of civil asset theft. The FAIR Act also requires all proceeds from civil asset forfeiture go to the Treasury Department’s general fund and not to the Justice Department.
The bill also requires the presumption of innocence in civil asset theft cases, and raises the standard of proof in civil asset forfeiture cases to “clear and convincing evidence.”
The bill is cosponsored by Democrats Bobby Rush (IL-01), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Tony Cardenas (CA-29) and Republicans Thomas Massie (KY-04), Tim Walberg (MI-07), and Tom McClintock (CA-04).
Here are Dr. Paul’s and Mr. Singleton’s statements:
Ron Paul—Civil asset theft is one of the, if not the, worst violations of due process and individual liberty to emerge from the unconstitutional war on drugs. Congress could achieve a rare bipartisan victory for liberty by sending this bill to President Trump’s desk as soon as possible.
Norm Singleton—The bipartisan group of representatives who introduced the FAIR Act reflects the broad support among all Americans for ending abuses of civil asset theft by restoring due process and taking the profit motive out of law enforcement. Campaign for Liberty is ready to mobilize our supporters to ensure Congress passes, and President Trump signs, the FAIR Act.
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