Opinion ID: 601558
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Eighth Amendment Argument

Text: 11 Since Mr. Higgins claims that section 2044 was indeed applied to him, we turn to his contention that section 2044 violates the Eighth Amendment's proscription against excessive bail. 4 Mr. Higgins bases his argument on Justice Douglas's clarification of a previous supervisory order to a district court directing it to grant an appellant bail during the Court's disposition of his petition for certiorari. Cohen v. United States, 82 S.Ct. 526, 7 L.Ed.2d 518 (1962). 5 The district court had complied with the prior order but had conditioned Cohen's appeal bond on his posting security for the payment of the committed fine 6 of which Cohen sought review. Justice Douglas found that the district court was using the bond to stay the execution of the committed fine under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 38, rather than to ensure the appearance of the defendant under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 46. The Justice found such use of the bond to be excessive under the Eighth Amendment, because this is not a purpose for which bail was intended. The other case on which Mr. Higgins relies involved a promise to pay any eventual fines as a condition of bail. United States v. Rose, 791 F.2d 1477, 1479 (11th Cir.1986). This condition was also held to violate the Eighth Amendment because it served a purpose other than securing the presence of the defendant. These cases, however, are inapposite as they deal with preconditions on bail which are intended to serve other purposes than to secure the presence of the defendant, not with post-conviction claims to bail. 12 Section 2044 does not precondition bail on the payment of any fine. It is a simple procedural mechanism by which the government, after the purposes of bail have been served, may make a motion as a judgment creditor that the court order the bond fund be delivered to it. Although garnishments of bail and the like have often been disallowed as interfering with the judicial process and harmful to the purposes of bail, see, e.g., Bankers' Mortgage Co. v. McComb, 60 F.2d 218, 221 (10th Cir.1932), as we noted, courts have long had the discretion to order the disbursal of bond funds, after the defendant has appeared and the purpose of bail has been served, to those with superior claims on the funds. See id.; United States v. Rubenstein, 971 F.2d 288, 294 (9th Cir.1992); Landau v. Vallen, 895 F.2d 888, 892 (2nd Cir.1990); United States v. Cannistraro, 871 F.2d 1210, 1212-13 (3rd Cir.1989); United States v. $250,000, 808 F.2d 895, 901 (1st Cir.1987); Fed.R.Civ.P. 69(a). Section 2044 is merely a procedural variant of that post-appearance discretion, and therefore does not implicate the excessive bail clause of the Eighth Amendment.