Civil asset forfeiture. Court fines and fees. Property tax foreclosure laws.
All are things local governments in Michigan use to operate and fund themselves. And all could be changed by a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The case had to do with whether police in Indiana could seize a man’s car after he was charged with selling heroin.
Even though the man was convicted, the court ruled the seizure was illegal because the car was worth many times more than the maximum fine for the crime. In other words, it was an excessive fine or fee—the kind prohibited by the Constitution’s 8th Amendment.