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D.Ore.: OFAC blocking of assets is a Fourth Amendment seizure

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A government blocking of assets by Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) qualifies as a Fourth Amendment seizure. The lack of case law only shows that nobody has raised the issue before. Al Haramain Islamic Found. v. United States Dep't of the Treasury, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90493 (D. Ore. November 6, 2008): As an initial matter, the government's assertion that the Supreme Court has never considered a blocking order to be a Fourth Amendment violation is unpersuasive; I note that no litigant asked it to do so. Furthermore, the cases on which the government relies, IARA and Holy Land Found., cite inapplicable precedent in concluding freezing of assets is not a seizure under the Fourth Amendment. Both courts rely on Tran Qui Than v. Regan, 658 F...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 11, 2008 (boomark / email).