Is Policing for Profit Really a Police Power Exception? Civil Asset Forfeiture as an Excessive Fine and the Police Power Exception to the Automatic Stay

Courts have long held that civil asset forfeiture falls under the police power exception to the automatic stay because of its goal to deter crime and the government’s presumed lack of monetary incentive. However, civil forfeiture has increasingly been criticized as excessive and unrestrained, while municipalities have been accused of utilizing it as a fundraising tool for law enforcement agencies. The author argues that civil asset forfeiture can unfairly punish the creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding and that, when the forfeiture constitutes an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment, the police power exception to the automatic stay should not apply