Warrantless Seizures in Forfeiture Cases: Due Process and Alvarez v. Smith in the Supreme Court

Charles Doyle
Senior Specialist in American Public Law

Alvarez v. Smith became moot while pending before the United States Supreme Court. At the time, the Court had agreed to decide whether a six-month delay between a state’s seizure of property and its forfeiture hearing requires additional procedural safeguards. Traditionally, forfeiture hearing delays have been judged by the speedy trial standards of Barker v. Wingo. The Court had been asked to decide whether they should instead be judged by the general due process standards of Mathews v. Eldridge. 

Alvarez v. Smith arose in Chicago where a group of property owners filed a civil rights class action against city and state officials over city practices under the Illinois drug forfeiture statute. Under the statute, cars and trucks regardless of their value and money or other property valued at under $20,000 may be seized without a warrant by officers with probable cause to believe it is subject to confiscation. The forfeiture hearing may be held as late as 187 days after the seizure. The Smith group argued their property could not be held for that long without intervening safeguards against hardship and erroneous seizure. The district court dismissed their suit using the higher threshold Barker speedy trial standards to assess the delay and its impact. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. It felt use of the Mathews standards better suited and returned the case to the lower court for determination of an appropriate remedy. At that point, the Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Before the Court could rule, however, the city returned the cars it had seized from members of the group and settled the group’s claims relating the other property seized. In the absence of a case or controversy, the Court vacated the Seventh Circuit opinion and returned the matter to the lower court.

The Illinois statute tracks the federal statutes in several respects. Thus, had the Seventh Circuit view prevailed, changes in federal law might have been required.

Related reports include CRS Report 97-139, Crime and Forfeiture, by Charles Doyle, which is also available in abbreviated form as CRS Report RS22005, Crime and Forfeiture: In Short, by Charles Doyle.


Date of Report: January 3, 2012
Number of Pages: 8
Order Number: R40960
Price: $19.95

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