It isn’t often that Republican Rep. Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff finds himself agreeing with the American Civil Liberties Union. But when it comes to cracking down on law enforcement agencies’ abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws, the conservative Republican finds himself squarely in line with the ACLU’s thinking.

Libertarian groups for years have been calling for changes to Arizona laws designed to seize the profits of crime.

money handcuffs asset forefiture The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday filed a broad-based constitutional challenge to the ability of prosecutors and police in Arizona to seize private property without a court order.