A federal appeals court has dealt a welcome victory to vehicle owners and a scathing rebuke to Detroit's asset forfeiture racket.
A panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit unanimously ruled in late August that Detroit's practice of seizing people's cars for months at a time before giving them a chance to contest the seizure violates vehicle owners' 14th Amendment right to due process. The panel found that Michigan's Wayne County, which includes Detroit, "violated that Constitution when it seized plaintiffs' personal vehicles—which were vital to their transportation and livelihoods—with no timely process to contest the seizure."
