The people of Nebraska have spoken, and they are calling for a change in the state’s asset forfeiture laws. Earlier this week, LB 1106 passed through the state’s unicameral legislature with a vote of 38 to 8, with 3 abstentions. The bill is now heading to the Governor Pete Ricketts' desk, waiting for a signature to become law.

The Department of Justice, on Monday, restarted the Equitable Sharing Program, which allows federal law enforcement agencies to coordinate with their state and local counterparts to pursue forfeiture of seized money and property under federal civil asset forfeiture laws. The program, which distributes up to 80 percent of the proceeds from these forfeitures to the state and local law enforcement agencies, was suspended in December because of budget constraints. Payments owed were deferred.

A federal judge has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to pay the legal fees of Lyndon McLellan, a convenience store owner based in Fairmont, North Carolina, whose bank account was wrongfully seized by the powerful tax agency in July 2014. The IRS had previously agreed to drop the attempted forfeiture of the $107,702.66 it stole from McLellan.

When a big corporation is charged with antitrust or regulatory violations, and fined billions of dollars, have you ever wondered where that money goes? You might assume that it is deposited in the United States Treasury, for general purposes, or that it goes to victims of the companies’ misconduct. In some cases, you’d be right, but it turns out an awful lot of that money is being funneled straight into progressive non-profits, at the express direction of the Department of Justice.

Santa Claus came a little earlier for those who have been urging for changes to federal civil asset forfeiture laws. The Department of Justice sent a letter to state and local law enforcement agencies notifying them that it would defer equitable sharing payments due to budget constraints. The step is temporary, as the Department of Justice wants to resume the program at a later time.

The California Assembly killed legislation on Thursday that would have addressed a concerning loophole in state civil asset forfeiture law. The loophole allows state and local law enforcement to circumvent protections for innocent property owners in California's forfeiture laws by pursuing seized property under the federal government's terrible forfeiture laws.

The federal government's civil asset forfeiture laws have been the target of well-deserved and long overdue criticism from conservatives, libertarians, and even progressives. As FreedomWorks recently noted in From High Seas to Highway Robbery, federal civil asset forfeiture laws, throw the presumption of innocence, a cornerstone of the American legal system out the window.

The Department of Justice and Department of the Treasury are interfering in a debate over a piece of legislation currently in the California Assembly that would close a loophole in the state's civil asset forfeiture laws. The loophole allows law enforcement to circumvent protections in the state's forfeiture laws by pursuing forfeitures in federal courts, which creates a serious problem for innocent property owners.

Straughn Gorman was driving on Interstate 80 in Elko County, Nevada in January 2013 when he was pulled over by a state patrolman for driving too slowly in the passing lane. The patrolman asked to search Gorman's recreational vehicle, but Gorman, a resident of Hawaii, did not consent. Though the patrolman let him go without so much as a warning or traffic citation, it appears he arranged for an Elko County sheriff's deputy who had a drug-sniffing dog to pull him over.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is coming under some scrutiny from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The two Kentucky Republicans recently introduced the Federal Prisons Accountability Act, S. 1784, which would require the president to appoint the director of the agency and subject the nominee to Senate confirmation under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.