Drug Policy Opinion: Page 22

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Drug Policy Opinion

Statements found in Court opinions regarding illicit substances. Public policy considerations, individual predilections of the Justice writing the opinion, the objective and subjective views on the the drugs, the drug use and the drug war... All of these can be found in this section.

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United States v. 92 Buena Vista Avenue (1993)
JUSTICE KENNEDY, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE WHITE join, dissenting:

The statutory puzzle the plurality and concurrence find so engaging is created because of a false premise, the premise that the possessor of an asset subject to forfeiture does not stand in the position of the transferor but must be charged with some guilty knowledge of her own. Forfeiture proceedings, though, are directed at an asset, and a donee in general has no more than the ownership rights of the donor. By denying this simple principle, the plurality rips out the most effective enforcement provisions in all of the drug forfeiture laws.

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United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property (1993)
Opinion by: KENNEDY

Although Congress designed the drug forfeiture statute to be a powerful instrument in enforcement of the drug laws, it did not intend to deprive innocent owners of their property. The affirmative defense of innocent ownership is allowed by statute. See 21 U. S. C. § 881(a)(7) ("No property shall be forfeited under this paragraph, to the extent of an interest of an owner, by reason of any act or omission established by that owner to have been committed or omitted without the knowledge or consent of that owner").

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United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property (1993)
CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, and with whom JUSTICE O'CONNOR joins as to Parts II and III, concurring in part and dissenting in part:

The seizure of respondent Good's real property serves important governmental purposes in combating illegal drugs; a preseizure notice might frustrate this statutory purpose by permitting respondent Good to destroy or otherwise damage the buildings on the property; and Government officials made the seizure rather than self-interested private parties seeking to gain from the seizure.

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This is not to say that the Government's use of civil forfeiture statutes to seize real property in drug cases may not cause hardship to innocent individuals...

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United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property (1993)
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring in part and dissenting in part:

The Government's interest in the property is substantial. Good's use of the property to commit a drug offense conveyed all right and title to the United States, although a judicial decree of forfeiture was necessary to perfect the Government's interest.

[...]