United States v. Ursery

United States v. Ursery, along with other cases in the mid-1990s such as Bennis v. Michigan (1996), served notice that the Supreme Court was willing to marshal every bit of constitutional firepower that it could against drug dealers and people involved in criminal activity--even, in the case of Bennis, people unknowingly or unwillingly involved in that activity. Many had cause to applaud this move to uphold law and order and the power of the states against criminals; others questioned the government's ability to seize property from a citizen, even a lawbreaker.