Supreme Court Decides Forfeiture Case

The Supreme Court held that the important civil forfeiture case of Alvarez v. Smith was moot because all of the actual property disputes between the parties had been settled or otherwise resolved in Illinois state court. The Court vacated the Seventh Circuit’s judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. 130 S. Ct. 576, 175 L. Ed.2d 447 (2009). This is an unfortunate outcome because a clear majority of the Court appeared to agree with at least some of plaintiffs’ constitutional claims at oral argument on October 14, 2009. Plaintiffs’ counsel, from the University of Chicago Law School, vowed to continue the constitutional litigation under §1983 in the district court by seeking damages there. Mr. Smith filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Cato Institute, the Goldwater Institute and the Reason Foundation in support of the plaintiff property owners.