Apparently, it’s now illegal to drive with money.

Radley Balko posted about this outrageous decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Basically, the government stole $124,700 from a man because anyone carrying such a large amount of cash is presumed to be dealing drugs, and even though they had no real evidence, and he had a well corroborated explanation, the government gets to keep the loot.

Under civil asset forfeiture law, there doesn’t have to be a conviction of a person. All they need is some evidence that the property (in this case, cash) may have, at some point, been involved in a drug crime. It’s the property, not the person, that’s found guilty.

This law, intended to be used as a tool to combat racketeering by organized crime, turns out to be a tool for the government to conduct its own racket.

This is just awful.