Do forfeiture actions give law enforcement, including informants, a vested interest in connecting personal or real property [real estate] to criminal activity because of the financial benefits and rewards bestowed upon them?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: Answers may vary: Yes, forfeiture laws operate to share all proceeds from the sale of confiscated property sold at auction with the home agency responsible for the forfeiture. The law provides that the agency may use the funds for training, equipment and upgrades which, for many smaller departments, may mean a significant increase in funding.

Problem-solving Exercises

Problems 1-7 are based on the following fact pattern:
Bob and Bill were legally married in Massachusetts in 2005. They moved to Louisiana which had amended its state constitution to define marriage as between "one man and one woman." The Louisiana State Supreme Court upheld this state constitutional amendment as legal. Bob and Bill were both employed by the state's Department of Health and when they went to list each other as "spouse" for health insurance benefits, they were denied because they were not "legally married." Bob and Bill sued the state in the District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana claiming that, under federal precedent and the Equal Protection Clause that required each state to give "full faith and credit" to its sister jurisdictions rulings, Louisiana should recognize their Massachusetts marriage as valid. In defense, the U.S. Attorneys office under the U.S. Department of Justice, answered that federal law only recognized marriage as between "one man and one woman" when Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") in 1996. You are a clerk to Supreme Court Clerk Clarence Thomas who asks you to read this text and brief him on how the Supreme Court should decide Bob and Bill's case. Justice Thomas specifically asks you to address: