Asset Forfeiture Case Goes Before Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a case that could make it easier for property owners to recover assets seized by police in drug cases, the Christian Science Monitor reported Oct. 13.

The case before the court this week centers on the question of how quickly innocent owners can expect to get their seized property back from authorities. The high court is reviewing an appeals court ruling that Chicago officials took too long to return the property of innocent owners caught up in drug cases.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Alvarez v. Smith that the three- to six-month administrative process detailed in the Illinois Drug Asset Forfeiture Procedures Act (DAFPA) was too long. “The procedures set out in DAFPA show insufficient concern for the due process right of the plaintiffs,” said Judge Terence Evans in the decision. “Consider the owner of an automobile which is seized because the driver — not the owner — is the one accused and whose actions caused the seizure. The innocent owner can be without his car for months or years without a means to contest the seizure or even to post a bond to obtain its release.”

Evans suggested that an informal hearing could help determine whether a seizure is legitimate, but the Cook County State Attorney’s office asserts that the current procedures meet Constitutional muster. The U.S. Solicitor General is backing Chicago officials in the case.

The plaintiffs are not challenging the right of police to seize assets, according to a lawyer in the case. “Respondents only insist they are entitled to a prompt, interim hearing before an objective decisionmaker to check against potential bias and overreaching,” said attorney Thomas Peters.