With so much of Washington preoccupied with increasing federal power at the expense of our rights — think IRS, NSA, DEA, and on and on — it’s cause for celebration when someone suggests decreasing government power to protect our rights.

With so much of Washington preoccupied with increasing federal power at the expense of our rights — think IRS, NSA, DEA, and on and on — it’s cause for celebration when someone suggests decreasing government power to protect our rights.

Now comes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who seeks to end the racket known as asset forfeiture.

The federal government and state and local authorities use asset forfeiture laws to seize the property of criminal suspects. Although the people who have their assets seized are presumed innocent until proved guilty, their property does not enjoy due process protections. If police and prosecutors merely suspect that your assets were obtained or used in the commission of a crime, they can take the property from you. And to get your property back, whether it’s cash, a car, a cellphone or a house, defendants have the burden of proving the property was obtained and used lawfully.

Worse, police need not even arrest a suspect to seize property. It’s all too common for police to pull over motorists, especially along routes favored by drug traffickers, conduct dubious searches that lack probable cause and threaten people with arrest if they don’t hand over their possessions and money. Agencies then use the assets they seize to fund police operations and equipment purchases, giving them a lucrative incentive to steal from law-abiding citizens.

Two federal lawsuits filed earlier this year in Reno allege the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department took tens of thousands of dollars from motorists without having any evidence of wrongdoing, and without so much as writing a citation.

In late July, Sen. Paul introduced the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act, which would shift the burden of proof back to the state. The government would have to prove, with actual evidence, that assets were obtained or used in the commission of a crime before it could seize the property. And it would direct assets seized by federal agencies into the U.S. Treasury’s general fund, not agency coffers.

As The Washington Post’s Radley Balko reports, in joint federal-state probes, the bill also requires that states’ asset forfeiture laws supersede federal law, which is often looser.

This is the kind of legislation Congress should work to pass. Americans are tired of overreaching federal authority. It’s no coincidence that Sen. Paul also has sponsored legislation to block the federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana patients in states (such as Nevada) where the drug is legal if prescribed by a doctor.

Stop the shakedowns, Congress. Pass the FAIR Act.