Tell Your Senators: Support the FAIR Act and Uphold the 5th Amendment

As one of our more than 6.5 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators today and ask them to support Senator Rand Paul’s Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, S. 2644 and to co-sponsor the bill if they have not already done so.

State and federal law enforcement agencies have been jointly complicit in a procedure known as civil asset forfeiture, in which the agencies confiscate the property of individuals suspected (but not necessarily convicted) of a crime. The property is then sold off, and the proceeds split between the federal and state governments. Worse, states often invoke federal law in these cases, in order to bypass state laws and regulations that protect confiscated property.

The FAIR Act addresses this egregious abuse of property rights and due process by requiring that the government produce clear and compelling evidence before assets may be considered “forfeited”. It also requires states to only follow their own laws regarding forfeiture, and reduces the incentive for the federal government to get involved with asset forfeiture by assigning proceeds from forfeited goods to the General Fund instead of the Attorney General’s Asset Forfeiture Fund.

Altogether, the FAIR Act is a simple yet effective measure that would vastly rein in a widespread abuse of citizens’ Fifth Amendment rights. I hope that you will contact your senators and ask them to join Senator Paul and co-sponsor the FAIR Act and to support efforts to bring this bill to the floor for a vote.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO,
FreedomWorks