The Justice Department is ordering public libraries to destroy certain books it has deemed not "appropriate for external use."
The Department of Justice has called for these five public documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, to be removed from depository libraries and destroyed, making their content available only to those with access to a law office or law library.
The topics addressed in the named documents include information on how citizens can retrieve items that may have been confiscated by the government during an investigation. The documents to be removed and destroyed include: Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure; Select Criminal Forfeiture Forms; Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes; Asset forfeiture and money laundering resource directory; and Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA).
Update
"[T]he Department has determined that these materials are "not sufficiently sensitive to require removal from the depository library system."
Drew sez: "I was outraged when I read the story about Ashcroft ordering librarties to destroy books related to criminal forfeiture procedures, so I did some digging. ResourceShelf is carrying a brief that mentions that the Justice department is rescinding the order. Phew."
