United States v. Ursery - Significance, Guy Ursery Grows His Own, Various Items, Emerald Cut Stones, And 89 Firearms

United States v. Ursery - Significance

United States v. Ursery - Further Readings

United States v. Ursery - Guy Ursery Grows His Own

Guy Ursery grew his own marijuana, but this Flint, Michigan, auto worker was not a drug dealer. "The most you could say was he was giving it to friends," his attorney later told the Los Angeles Times. On his property, Ursery had some 142 marijuana plants, none more than two feet tall, according to police who raided his place on a tip from the former girlfriend of Ursery's son. Inside the house, au…

United States v. Ursery - Various Items, Emerald Cut Stones, And 89 Firearms

The Court ruled by an 8-1 vote that in rem civil forfeiture proceedings were neither "punishment" nor criminal in nature; hence the seizure of property, combined with prison sentences, did not constitute double jeopardy. Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for the majority, noted that federal authorities had Congress's authorization to conduct parallel civil and criminal actions, a history that went …

United States v. Ursery - Concurrence And Dissent: Standing Austin On Its Head

Justice Kennedy issued a concurring opinion in which he reviewed the history of past cases and showed why the Court's holding in the present action was consistent with its judgment not only in Austin, but also in Libretti v. United States (1995). "Forfeiture," he wrote, " . . . punishes an owner by taking property involved in a crime, and it may happen that the owner is also the wrongdoer charged …

United States v. Ursery - Impact

Justice Stevens may have been the only dissenter on the Supreme Court in Ursery, but he was far from the only American alarmed by the Court's ruling in the case. The decision reflected a law-and-order trend which, while it may have responded to genuine threats to the public order posed by drug dealers, appeared to catch relatively innocent people in its snares as well. Thus, in a related 1996 deci…

United States v. Ursery - Related Cases

United States v. Ursery - Criminal Cases V. Civil Cases

In a typical civil case, a person files suit against another person or group of persons, claiming that he or she has suffered some kind of harm or injury. The case is tried to determine if such injury has in fact occurred and to provide a legal remedy. Although the remedy sought may involve forcing the defendant to perform a certain act, or to cease certain activities, the usual remedy sought is a…

United States v. Ursery - The War On Drugs

The expression "War on Drugs" was popularized by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, but it was President Richard M. Nixon who first described federal antidrug efforts as a "war." Between 1969, when Nixon became president, and 1983, the third year of Reagan's administration, annual federal spending on drug eradication grew from $37 million to $1.06 billion. The government's "war," waged chiefly …