MICHAEL S. LEE COMMITTEES: auyson ae ENERGY AND United States Senate sauna Resounces é ‘ commence, scence, WASHINGTON, D¢ 2050-4404 SRS Sa, mga May 31,2017 COMMITTEE The Honorable Jeff Sessions Attorney General of the United States 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Attorney General Sessions: In recent years, Members of Congress from both parties and legal commentators from across the political spectrum have expressed concern about the government’s civil asset forfeiture practices. In particular, we are concerned that the federal government uses civil asset forfeiture to seize individuals’ property without affording the benefit of predeprivation judicial process and is not required to show the property owner used the property to commit a crime or even knew the property would be used in the commission of a crime. We are also concerned that the federal government continues to participate in equitable sharing, which can be used to bypass State laws that would otherwise prohibit forfeiture by State or local authorities. Earlier this Supreme Court Term, Justice Thomas issued an opinion explaining that he is “skeptical” that civil asset forfeiture practices are constitutional, because the historical analogues used to support civil asset forfeiture “were narrower in most respects than modem ones” and because “it is unclear whether courts historically permitted forfeiture actions to proceed civilly in all respects” or whether historical antecedents were at least partially criminal in nature, thus triggering constitutionally mandated due process protections. Leonard v. Texas, No. 16-122, slip op. at 5-6 (Thomas, J., respecting denial of certiorari). While the Court denied certiorari, as, Justice Thomas explained, the case was a poor vehicle for considering the constitutionality of civil asset forfeiture practices, because the petitioner forfeited the argument earlier in the litigation. Id. at 6. Justice Thomas is the first Justice to publicly articulate this view, but I doubt he will be the last. You need not wait for Supreme Court censure before reforming these practices, and, in any event, the Department of Justice should err on the side of protecting constitutional rights, We encourage the Department to revise its civil asset forfeiture practices to reflect our nation’s commitment to the rule of law and due process. Sincerely, BLM CE Conbihate United S:ates Senator United States SenatorRand Govt habbo Rand Paul Martin Heinrich United States Senator ‘Mike Cepo United States Senator United States Senator