It is most unlikely, however, that without explanation a potent forfeiture weapon was withheld from the RICO statute, intended for use in a broad assault on organized crime, while the same weapon was included in the Controlled Substances Act, meant for use in only one part of the same struggle.
And last month, falling further out of step with many Republicans' slow retreat from the war on drugs, Sessions reclaimed one of that war's most disquieting weapons: civil-asset forfeiture.
In 1970, Congress turned the federal civil asset forfeiture law into a weapon against the illegal drug trade, allowing for the seizure of aircraft, boats and vehicles used to transport drugs.
Asset forfeiture is a hugely lucrative weapon in the law enforcement arsenal, allowing cops to seize property from both criminals and suspected criminals and direct those proceeds into their department coffers.
Popularized in the 1980s, civil forfeiture was presented as a bold weapon in the war on drugs, a means of depriving kingpins of their profits in cases where they couldn't be charged with a crime.
Asset forfeiture began to be used as a weapon in the war on drugs, allowing authorities to crack down on drug dealers by seizing their cash and property obtained illegally.
Part 4: Police agencies nationwide routinely buy vehicles and weapons with money and property seized under federal civil forfeiture law from people who were not charged with a crime.
The decision delighted critics of civil asset forfeiture, who welcomed the ruling as a new weapon in their war against what has been labeled "policing for profit" — the practice of seizing cash, cars and other property from those convicted, or even suspected, of committing a crime.
"This is a very powerful law enforcement weapon," said Cary Copeland, who heads the Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture at the Justice Department in Washington.
To people like Cleveland, civil forfeiture is all about giving law enforcement a weapon to crack down on Mexican cartels trafficking in Oklahoma.
No longer tied to the practical necessities of enforcing maritime law, the forfeiture power has become one of the most powerful weapons in the government's crime-fighting arsenal.
