Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 249

88 

ALVAREZ  v.  SMITH 

Syllabus 

issue contested throughout the litigation.  Here, the Court believes that 
the presence of the federal case played no signiﬁcant role in the termina­
tion  of  plaintiffs’  state-court  forfeiture  proceedings.  Plaintiffs’  forfeit­
ure  cases  took  place  with  no  procedural  link  to  the  case  before  this 
Court;  apparently  terminated  on  substantive  grounds  in  their  ordinary 
course;  and,  to  the  Court’s  knowledge,  no  one  raised  the  procedural 
question  at  issue  here  in  those  cases.  This  Court  therefore  concludes 
that it should follow its ordinary practice and order vacatur.  Pp. 94–97. 

524 F. 3d 834, vacated and remanded. 

Breyer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., 
and  Scalia,  Kennedy,  Thomas,  Ginsburg,  Alito,  and  Sotomayor,  JJ., 
joined,  and  in  which  Stevens,  J.,  joined  as  to  Parts  I  and  II.  Stevens, 
J.,  ﬁled  an  opinion  concurring  in  part  and  dissenting  in  part,  post, p. 97.  

Paul  A.  Castiglione  argued  the  cause  for  petitioner. 
With him on the briefs were Anita Alvarez, pro se, Patrick 
T. Driscoll, Jr., and Alan J. Spellberg. 

William M. Jay argued the cause for the United States as 
amicus  curiae  in  support  of  petitioner.  With  him  on  the 
brief  were  Solicitor  General  Kagan,  Assistant  Attorneys 
General Breuer and West, Deputy Solicitor General Katyal, 
Harry  Harbin,  Michael  S.  Raab,  David  A.  Martin,  and  Al­
fonso Robles. 

Thomas  Peters  argued  the  cause  for  respondents.  With 
him  on  the  brief  were  Craig  B.  Futterman  and  Richard 
Epstein.* 

*Briefs  of  amici  curiae  urging  reversal  were  ﬁled  for  the  State  of  Illi­
nois et al. by Lisa Madigan, Attorney General of Illinois, Michael A. Sco­
dro, Solicitor General, Jane Elinor Notz, Deputy Solicitor General, Eldad 
Malamuth, Assistant Attorney General, and by the Attorneys General for 
their respective States as follows: Troy King of Alabama, Terry Goddard 
of  Arizona,  John  W.  Suthers  of  Colorado,  Thurbert  E.  Baker  of  Georgia, 
Mark  J.  Bennett  of  Hawaii,  Lawrence  G.  Wasden  of  Idaho,  Gregory  F. 
Zoeller  of  Indiana,  Thomas J. Miller of  Iowa,  Martha  Coakley  of  Massa­
chusetts, Michael A. Cox of Michigan, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, 
Richard Cordray of Ohio, Thomas W. Corbett, Jr., of Pennsylvania, Henry 
McMaster  of  South  Carolina,  Greg  Abbott  of  Texas,  Mark  L.  Shurtleff  of 
Utah, Robert M. McKenna of Washington, J.  B.  Van  Hollen  of Wisconsin,