FBI Misled Judge in Obtaining Warrant To Seize Hundreds of Safe Deposit Boxes

New court documents show that the FBI planned for months to seize and forfeit property found inside safe deposit boxes in an L.A. raid under the pretext of doing an inventory.

• The raid on U.S. Private Vaults resulted in federal agents seizing and attempting to forfeit more than $86 million in cash as well as gold, jewelry, and other valuables from property owners who were suspected of no crimes.

The FBI had been investigating U.S. Private Vaults for more than five years and had previously targeted individuals suspected of using the business to stash the proceeds of criminal activity

• In 2019, according to some of the newly unredacted depositions, federal agents shifted their approach and began building a case against the company as a whole
• The raid that targeted the businesses also swept up the private property of hundreds of people suspected of no crime

The Presidential Records Act does not prescribe penalties for violating it, but 18 USC 2071 makes it a felony, punishable by up to three years in prison, to conceal, remove, or destroy a U.S. government document.

• To obtain a conviction, the government has to prove the defendant did that "willfully."
• If Trump repeatedly rebuffed attempts to recover defense-related documents, that could support such a charge.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker:

• Using government force to ban discussion of issues DeSantis doesn’t like is blatantly unconstitutional and ordered the state not to enforce the law

The Individual Freedom Act (IFA)

• Bans both schools and businesses from teaching or training students or employees a list of eight controversial ideas the law's proponents associate with critical race theory.
• The state was sued by two employers who want to mandate training to employees that might violate this law and consulting firms who provide such training. Walker agreed that this gave the businesses standing to sue to attempt to block the law’s enforcement.

Walker then subjects the law to strict scrutiny, requiring the state to prove that it has a compelling interest to justify engaging in such censorship.

• The First Amendment does not give the state license to censor speech because it finds it'repugnant,' no matter how captive the audience
• Walker concludes that the IFA attacks ideas, not conduct, and so the plaintiffs are likely to win the case.

DeSantis' deliberate politicization of the issue is brought up as evidence that this is all viewpoint-based government censorship

• Gov. De santis went so far as to call it the STOP WOKE Act at a press conference with children waving anti-critical race theory signs.

Judge Walker agreed to enjoin the state from enforcing the business training component of the bill.

• The other high-profile DeSantis-supported speech bill is H.B. 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Bill, which is also being challenged in federal court by families and educators as violating the First Amendment for the way it censors classroom discussions on LGBT issues.

Norwegian officials decided to kill a 1,300-pound walrus after seeing her go viral

• The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries argued that Freya needed to be euthanized due to the risks she posed to the crowds that gathered to watch and take photos of her. The agency also cited vague animal welfare concerns.
• This case is just the latest instance of Norwegian government authorities deciding to kill big, inconvenient animals

https://reason.com/2022/08/19/fbi-misled-judge-in-obtaining-warrant-to-seize-hundreds-of-safe-deposit-boxes/