Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/522/93/case.php
Timestamp: 2019-09-18 15:20:35
Document Index: 722076041

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1005', '§ 84', '§ 93', '§ 84', '§ 1818', '§ 93', '§ 93', '§ 84', '§ 375', '§ 31']

A brief of amici curiae urging affirmance was filed for 48 States and Territories by Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General of Ohio, Jeffrey S. Sutton, State Solicitor, and David M. Gormley, Assistant Attorney General, Jan Graham, Attorney General of Utah, Carol Clawson, Solicitor General, and Marian Decker, Assistant Attorney General, John M. Bailey, Chief States Attorney of Connecticut, Jo Anne Robinson, Interim Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Bill Pryor of Alabama, Bruce M. Botelho of Alaska, Toetagata A. Mialo of American Samoa, Grant Woods of Arizona, Winston Bryant of Arkansas, Daniel E. Lungren of California, Gale A. Norton of Colorado, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida, Michael J. Bowers of Georgia, Margery S. Bronster of Hawaii, Alan G. Lance of Idaho, James E. Ryan of Illinois, Jeffrey A. Modisett of Indiana, Thomas J. Miller of Iowa, Carla J. Stovall of Kansas, Richard P. Ieyoub of Louisiana, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., of Maryland, Frank J. Kelley of Michigan, Hubert H. Humphrey III of Minnesota, Michael C. Moore of Mississippi, Joseph P. Mazurek of Montana, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, Philip T. McLaughlin of New Hampshire, Peter Verniero of New Jersey, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Dennis C. Vacco of New York, Michael F. Easley of North Carolina, Robert B. Dunlap II of the Northern Mariana Islands, W A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, D. Michael Fisher of Pennsylvania, Jose Fuentes-Agostini of Puerto Rico, Jeffrey B. Pine of Rhode Island, Charles M. Condon of South Carolina, Mark W Barnett of South Dakota, John Knox Walkup of Tennessee, Dan Morales of Texas, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, Julio A. Brady of the Virgin Islands, Richard Cullen of Virginia, Christine O. Gregoire of Washington, and William U. Hill of Wyoming.cralaw
1 Tipton and Hammon are two very small towns in western Oklahoma.cralaw
3 Only petitioner Rackley was indicted for making false bank entries in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 1005.cralaw
4 E. g., Zukas v. Hinson, 1997 WL 623648 (CAll, Oct. 21, 1997) (challenge to FAA revocation of a commercial pilot's license as violative of double jeopardy); E. B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077 (CA3 1997) (challenge to "Megan's Law" as violative of double jeopardy); Jones v. Securities & Exchange Comm'n, 115 F.3d 1173 (CA4 1997) (challenge to SEC debarment proceeding as violative of double jeopardy); United States v. Rice, 109 F.3d 151 (CA3 1997) (challenge to criminal drug prosecution following general military discharge for same conduct as violative of double jeopardy); United States v. Hatfield, 108 F.3d 67 (CA4 1997) (challenge to criminal fraud prosecution as foreclosed by previous debarment from Government contracting); Taylor v. Cisneros, 102 F.3d 1334 (CA3 1996) (challenge to eviction from federally subsidized housing based on guilty plea to possession of drug paraphernalia as violative of double jeopardy); United States v. Galan, 82 F.3d 639 (CA5) (challenge to prosecution for prison escape following prison disciplinary proceeding as violative of double jeopardy), cert. denied, 519 U. S. 867 (1996).cralaw
In making this latter determination, the factors listed in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U. S. 144, 168-169 (1963), provide useful guideposts, including: (1) "[w]hether the sanction involves an affirmative disability or restraint"; (2) "whether it has historically been regarded as a punishment"; (3) "whether it comes into play only on a finding of scienter"; (4) "whether its operation will promote the traditional aims of punishment-retribution and deterrence"; (5) "whether the behavior to which it applies is already a crime"; (6) "whether an alternative purpose to which it may rationally be connected is assignable for it"; and (7) "whether it appearscralaw
On direct appeal, this Court affirmed. As the Halper Court saw it, the imposition of "punishment" of any kind wascralaw
5 In his concurrence, JUSTICE STEVENS criticizes us for reexamining our Halper opinion rather than deciding the case on what he believes is the narrower Blockburger grounds. But the question upon which we granted certiorari in this case is "whether imposition upon petitioners of monetary fines as in personam civil penalties by the Department of the Treasury, together with other sanctions, is 'punishment' for purposes of the Doublecralaw
6 In Kurth Ranch, we held that the presence of a deterrent purpose or effect is not dispositive of the double jeopardy question. 511 U. S., at 781. Rather, we applied a Kennedy-like test, see 511 U. S., at 780-783, before concluding that Montana's dangerous drug tax was "the functional equivalent of a successive criminal prosecution," id., at 784. Similarly, in Ursery, we rejected the notion that civil in rem forfeitures violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. 518 U. S., at 270-271. We upheld such forfeitures, relying on the historical support for the notion that such forfeitures are civil and thus do not implicate double jeopardy. Id., at 292.cralaw
Applying traditional double jeopardy principles to the facts of this case, it is clear that the criminal prosecution of these petitioners would not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. It is evident that Congress intended the acc money penalties and debarment sanctions imposed for violations of 12 U. S. C. §§ 84 and 375b to be civil in nature. As for the money penalties, both §§ 93(b)(1) and 504(a), which authorize the imposition of monetary penalties for violations of §§ 84 and 375b respectively, expressly provide that such penalties are "civil." While the provision authorizing debarment contains no language explicitly denominating the sanction as civil, we think it significant that the authority to issue debarment orders is conferred upon the "appropriate Federal banking agenc[iesJ." §§ 1818(e)(1)-(3). That such authority was conferred upon administrative agencies is prima facie evidence that Congress intended to provide for a civil sanction. See Helvering, supra, at 402; United States v. Spector, 343 U. S. 169, 178 (1952) (Jackson, J., dissenting) ("Administrative determinations of liability to deportation have been sustained as constitutional only by considering them to be exclusively civil in nature, with no criminal consequences or connotations"); Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U. S. 228, 235 (1896) (holding that quintessential criminal punishments may be imposed only "by a judicial trial").cralaw
Second, the sanctions imposed do not involve an "affirmative disability or restraint," as that term is normally understood. While petitioners have been prohibited from further participating in the banking industry, this is "certainly nothing approaching the 'infamous punishment' of imprisonment." Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U. S. 603, 617 (1960). Third, neither sanction comes into play "only" on a finding of scienter. The provisions under which the money penalties were imposed, 12 U. S. C. §§ 93(b) and 504, allow for the assessment of a penalty against any person "who violates" any of the underlying banking statutes, without regard to the violator's state of mind. "Good faith" is considered by acc in determining the amount of the penalty to be imposed, § 93(b)(2), but a penalty can be imposed even in the absence of bad faith. The fact that petitioners' "good faith" was considered in determining the amount of the penalty to be imposed in this case is irrelevant, as we look only to "the statute on its face" to determine whether a penalty is criminal in nature. Kennedy, 372 U. S., at 169. Similarly, while debarment may be imposed for a "willful" disregard "for the safety or soundness of [an] insured depository institution,"cralaw
The maxim that "hard cases make bad law" may also apply to easy cases. As I shall explain, this case could easily be decided by the straightforward application of wellestablished precedent. Neither such a disposition, nor anything in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, would require a reexamination of the central holding in United States v. Halper, 490 U. S. 435 (1989), or of the language used in that unanimous opinion. Any proper concern about the danger that that opinion might be interpreted too expansively would be more appropriately addressed in a case that was either incorrectly decided or that at least raised a close or difficultcralaw
1 Title 12 U. S. C. § 84(a)(I) prohibits total loans and extensions of credit by a national banking association to anyone borrower from exceeding 15 percent of the bank's unimpaired capital and surplus. Title 12 U. S. C. § 375b and 12 CFR §§ 31.2(b) and 215.4(b) (1986) impose similar lending limits on loans to bank officers and other insiders.cralaw
2 Petitioners challenge this conclusion by relying on dicta from Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U. S. 346, 370 (1997). There, after rejecting a double jeopardy challenge to Kansas' Sexually Violent Predator Act, the Court added: "The Blockburger test, however, simply does not apply outside of the successive prosecution context." Ibid. This statement, pure dictum, was unsupported by any authority and contradicts the earlier ruling in United States v. Dixon, 509 U. S. 688, 704-705 (1993), that the Blockburger analysis applies to claims of successive punishment as well as successive prosecution. See also 509 U. S., at 745-746 (SOUTER, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part) (explaining why the Blockburger test applies in the multiple punishments context). I cannot imagine a good reason why Blockburger should not apply here.cralaw
3"We ... hold that under the Double Jeopardy Clause a defendant who already has been punished in a criminal prosecution may not be subjected to an additional civil sanction to the extent that the second sanction may not fairly be characterized as remedial, but only as a deterrent or retribution." United States v. Halper, 490 U. S. 435, 448-449 (1989).cralaw
4 Other recent double jeopardy decisions have also recognized that double jeopardy protection is not limited to multiple prosecutions. See United States v. Ursery, 518 U. S. 267, 273 (1996); Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U. S., at 369. Otherwise, it would have been totally unnecessary to determine whether the civil forfeitures in Ursery and the involuntary civil commitment in Hendricks imposed "punishment" for double jeopardy purposes, for neither sanction was implemented via criminal proceedings.cralaw
Today, as it did in Halper itself, the Court relies on the sort of multifactor approach to the definition of punishment that we used in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U. S. 144, 168-169 (1963), to identify situations in which a civil sanction is punitive. Whether the Court's reformulation of Halper's test will actually affect the outcome of any cases remains to be seen. Perhaps it will not, since the Court recommends consideration of whether a sanction's "'operation will promote the traditional aims of punishment-retribution and deterrence,'" and" 'whether it appears excessive in relation to the alternative [nonpunitive] purpose assigned.'" Ante, at 99-100 (quoting Kennedy, 372 U. S., at 168-169). Those factors look awfully similar to the reasoning in Halper, and while we are told that they are never by themselves dispositive, ante, at 101, they should be capable of tipping the balance in extreme cases. The danger in changing approaches midstream, rather than refining our established approach on an incremental basis, is that the Government and lowercralaw
Applying the Court's Kennedy-Ward criteria leads me directly to the conclusion of JUSTICE STEVENS'S opinion con-cralaw
My acceptance of the Kennedy- Ward analytical scheme is subject to caveats, however. As the Court points out, under Ward, once it is understood that a legislature intended a penalty to be treated as civil in character, that penalty may be held criminal for Fifth Amendment purposes (and, for like reasons, under the Sixth Amendment) only on the "clearest proof" of its essentially criminal proportions. While there are good and historically grounded reasons for using that phrase to impose a substantial burden on anyone claiming that an apparently civil penalty is in truth criminal, what may be clear enough to be "clearest" is necessarily dependent on context, as indicated by the cases relied on as authority for adopting the standard in Ward. Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U. S. 603 (1960), used the quoted language to describe the burden of persuasion necessary to demonstrate a criminal and punitive purpose unsupported by "objective manifestations" of legislative intent. Id., at 617. Rex Trailer Co. v. United States, 350 U. S. 148, 154 (1956), cited as secondary authority, required a defendant to show that a "measure of recovery" was "unreasonable or excessive" before "what wascralaw
I add the further caution, to be wary of reading the "clearest proof" requirement as a guarantee that such a demonstration is likely to be as rare in the future as it has been in the past. See United States v. Halper, 490 U. S. 435, 449 (1989) ("What we announce now is a rule for the rare case"). We have noted elsewhere the expanding use of ostensibly civil forfeitures and penalties under the exigencies of the current drug problems, see Ursery, supra, at 300 (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part) ("In recent years, both Congress and the state legislatures have armed their law enforcement authorities with new powers to forfeit property that vastly exceed their traditional tools"); United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U. S. 43,81-82 (1993) (THOMAS, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), a development doubtless spurred by the increasingly inviting prospect of its profit to the Government. See id., at 56, n. 2 (opinion of the Court) (describing the Government's financial stake in drug forfeiture); see also id., at 56 (citing Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U. S. 957, 979, n. 9 (1991) (opinion of SCALIA, J.) for the proposition that "it makes sense to scrutinize governmental action more closely when the State stands to benefit"). Hence, on the infrequency of "clearest proof," history may not be repetitive.cralaw
I do not join the Court's opinion, however, because I disagree with its reasoning in two respects. First, unlike the Court I would not say that "'only the clearest proof'" will "transform" into a criminal punishment what a legislature calls a "civil remedy." Ante, at 100. I understand that the Court has taken this language from earlier cases. See Ward, supra, at 249. But the limitation that the language suggests is not consistent with what the Court has actually done. Rather, in fact if not in theory, the Court has simply applied factors of the Kennedy variety to the matter at hand. In Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. 767 (1994), for example, the Court held that the collection of a state tax imposed on the possession and storage of drugs was "the functional equivalent of a successive criminal prosecution" because, among other things, the tax was "remarkably high"; it had "an obvious deterrent purpose"; it was "conditioned on the commission of a crime"; it was "exacted only after the taxpayer ha[d] been arrested for the precise conduct that gives rise to the tax obligation"; its alternative function of raising revenue could be equally well served by increasing the fine imposed on the activity; and it departed radically from "normal revenue laws" by taxing contraband goods perhaps destroyed before the tax was imposed. Id., at 781-784. This reasoning tracks the nonexclusive list of factors set forth in Kennedy, and it is, I believe, the proper approach. The "clearest proof" languagecralaw
Second, I would not decide now that a court should evaluate a statute only" 'on its face,'" ante, at 100 (quoting Kennedy, supra, at 169), rather than "assessing the character of the actual sanctions imposed," Halper, supra, at 447; ante, at 101. Halper involved an ordinary civil-fine statute that as normally applied would not have created any "double jeopardy" problem. It was not the statute itself, but rather the disproportionate relation between fine and conduct as the statute was applied in the individual case that led this Court, unanimously, to find that the "civil penalty" was, in those circumstances, a second "punishment" that constituted double jeopardy. See 490 U. S., at 439, 452 (finding that $130,000 penalty was "sufficiently disproportionate" to $585 loss plus approximately $16,000 in Government expenses caused by Halper's fraud to constitute a second punishment in violation of double jeopardy). Of course, the Court in Halper might have reached the same result through application of the constitutional prohibition of "excessive fines." See ante, at 103; Alexander v. United States, 509 U. S. 544, 558-559 (1993); Halper, supra, at 449 (emphasizing that Halper was "the rare case" in which there was an "overwhelmingly disproportionate" fine). But that is not what the Court there said. And nothing in the majority's opinion today explains why we should abandon this aspect of Halper's holding. Indeed, in context, the language of Kennedy that suggests that the Court should consider the statute on its face does not suggest that there may not be further analysis of a penalty as it is applied in a particular case. See 372 U. S., at 169. Most of the lower court confusion and criticism of Halper appears to have focused on the problem of characterizing-by examining the face of the statute-the purposes of a civil penalty as punishment, not on the application of double jeopardy analysis to the penalties that are imposed in particular cases. It seems to me quite possible thatcralaw