Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 250

Cite as: 558 U. S. 87 (2009) 

89 

Opinion of the Court 

Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. 
We  granted  certiorari  in  this  case  to  determine  whether 
Illinois law provides a sufﬁciently speedy opportunity for an 
individual,  whose  car  or  cash  police  have  seized  without  a 
warrant, to contest the lawfulness of the seizure.  See U. S. 
Const.,  Amdt.  14,  § 1;  United  States  v.  Von  Neumann,  474 
U. S. 242 (1986); United States v.  $8,850, 461 U. S. 555 (1983). 
At  the  time  of  oral  argument, however,  we  learned  that  the 
underlying property disputes have all ended.  The State has 
returned  all  the cars  that  it  seized,  and the  individual  prop­
erty  owners  have  either  forfeited  any  relevant  cash  or  have 
accepted as ﬁnal the State’s return of some of it.  We conse­
quently ﬁnd the case moot, and we therefore vacate the judg­
ment  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  and  remand  the  case  to  that 
court  with  instructions  to  dismiss.  United  States  v.  Mun­
singwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36, 39 (1950); see also E. Gressman, 
K.  Geller,  S.  Shapiro,  T.  Bishop,  &  E.  Hartnett,  Supreme 
Court Practice 941–942 (9th ed. 2007). 

I 

Illinois  law  provides  for  forfeiture  of  movable  personal 
property (including cars and cash) used “to facilitate” a drug 
crime.  Ill.  Comp.  Stat.,  ch.  720,  § 570/505(a)(6)  (West  2008). 
It  permits  a  police  ofﬁcer  to  seize  that  property  without  a 
warrant where (1) the ofﬁcer has “probable cause to believe” 
the  property was  so used  and (2)  a “warrantless  seizure .  . . 

and  Bruce  A.  Salzburg  of  Wyoming;  and  for  the  National  Association  of 
Counties et al. by Richard Ruda. 

Briefs  of  amici  curiae  urging  afﬁrmance  were  ﬁled  for  the  American 
Civil  Liberties  Union  et  al.  by  Graham  Boyd,  Scott  Michelman,  Steven 
R. Shapiro, and Harvey Grossman; for the Cato Institute et al. by David 
B.  Smith,  Clint  Bolick,  Nicholas  C.  Dranias,  Ilya  Shapiro,  and  Manuel 
S.  Klausner;  for  the  Institute  for  Justice  by  William  H.  Mellor,  Scott  G. 
Bullock,  and  Robert  P.  Frommer;  for  the  Legal  Aid  Society  by  Thomas 
M.  O’Brien;  for  the  National  Police  Accountability  Project  by  Andrew  B. 
Reid;  and  for  the  Women’s  Criminal  Defense  Bar  Association  by  Harold 
J. Krent.