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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Can this really happen in the U.S.?

This commentary is fairly far afield from the areas of my usual writing but the facts are so egregious and frightening that I had to say something. The topic is civil forfeiture. I defer to the excellent commentary on this subject by one of my favorite writers,Dr. Donald Boudreaux who is trained in economics and the law having a PhD in the former and is teaching at George Mason University.See here.

The case he discusses and the subsequent decision of the Supreme Court can fairly be described as mind-boggling , the dictionary definition of which is "intellectually or emotionally overwhelming".

In regard to the case,Bennis versus Michigan,Boudreaux and his co-author, A.C. Pritchard, said in part the following:

[the Supreme Court's decision] allows government to impose huge costs on people never charged with criminal wrongdoing"

Those of us who,probably against all reason,still think that the Supreme Court will overturn Obamacare find little hope that the supremes will do the right thing after one reads their decision in this case.

A slightly positive note is this was a five to four decision by the court and one of the dissents was penned by Justice Kennedy who is generally thought to be the possible swing vote when the health care bill gets to the court. Maybe he will do the right thing again.

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