Have to disagree with you Pick 4 Master. There is nothing illegal about finding a dollar on the street and using that money to buy a lottery ticket. But using money from ill-gotten gains (drug money) to buy a lottery ticket and any winnings from that ticket or buying anything else (houses, cars, boats, etc.) gives the gov't the power to seize anything you own. I am not an advocate for an over-empowering gov't but but I do agree with this decision.

I would think the Feds are checking the income status of any one who wwins over $5K, which is the amount the states start notifyiing the Feds of winnings. I hit for $5K and less than amonth later received notice the IRS was auditing all my taxable records. If you hit a BIG one, you have to know the IRS is going to check you out. No tax record has to be a red flag. Yoou either previously died of starvation or haven't been totally honest some where down the line.

If legality and honesty are synonyms then all's well here. 

The guy was convicted.  Therefore he was illegal and dishonest by virtue of his illegality, for which he was convicted and will serve a quarter-century.

The court, which by definition is honest, determned his ownership of all that jackpot money was illegal and therefore dishonest.

The Feds behaved honestly and legally in confiscating the money because the court so ruled.

I'd really never considered that facet of things.  New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and California have an enormous number of dishonest (illegal) aliens in the workforce moving freely around among the general population.

But in this instance, we can relax.  This dishonest guy has been sent where dishonest folks ought to be, and the honest judges and cops have protected us from him, while enriching the coffers of their agencies.

Jack

drug dealer - he needs to rot in jail - period.

I disagree with the basic concept of state or federal property seizures of lottery winnings, if the ticket was legitimately purchased by the claimant, that is, not stolen from someone else.  That is additional, excessive punishment for a crime that he has already been punished for.  He paid his dollar and took his chance like everyone else.  If a slimy drug dealing criminal wins, so be it, but that is what happens in games of chance. If the government doesn't like that idea, let them cancel the lottery.

In this case, he was not arrested or convicted when he bought the ticket and was issued the check, so taking the money afterwards is an even more despicable government act.  This sets up the possibility that any winner could be set up and arrested after winning the lottery with the intent of seizing winnings.  I don't like that idea, do you?

>But using money from ill-gotten gains (drug money) to buy a lottery ticket and any winnings from that ticket or buying anything else (houses, cars, boats, etc.) gives the gov't the power to seize anything you own.

If you spent $90,000 of drug money on a boat, then you had and spent $90,000. In this case, he spent $1 on a $1 lottery ticket.  The winnings are not what he spent.  If the government does have a case to seize, they should only be entitled to seize the dollar he spent on the ticket.

It's part of the War on Drugs and money laundering legislation that was passed during the 80s and early nineties.  It's been going on a while.

The only rights you have are those the government allows you.  This isn't an issue involving ideals, or 'rights'.  It's an issue of what the government is allowed to do (allows itself to do) to any citizen it sees fit.

If the court says what they did is legal, by definition it's legal.

Nobody's been asked to vote for, nor against it in a referendum.  It is reality.

As Chewie says, if you don't like it, burn your borth certificate.

Jack

I'd a whole lot rather they just killed Americans than send them to prison for doing things you don't like.  That way the taxpayers don't have to feed and water them for the rest of their lives.

This send-them-to-prison to rot mindset is one of the things that's running this nation into bankruptcy.  It's not doing a lot for the prisoners, either.  The whole system is a revolving door retirement system for lawyers, judges, cops and prison establishments.  I think it's time people demanded the costs be cut.  If it's an offense that people consider serious enough to send a man to prison for a quarter century, kill him and get it over with. 

If it's not that serious, tie him to a rail and give him 20 lashes and turn him loose.  If he does it again, 30 lashes.  If he does it again, kill him.  Prison isn't working.

On the other hand, I totally disagree that possession of anything short of a hydrogen bomb is a criminal act, except in the minds of people who favor punishing victimless crimes and a government willing to pander to the desires of those people to steal their rights and gain more power.

Jack

He's a 52 year-old drug dealer. It's costing the US a lot of money to capture, try, and incarcerate these career criminals.  If they're making a profit off of their business while the public foots the bill for the societal costs, I see no problem with the government recovering these costs in some manner. 

finally - a sane voice.