Thanks to a colleague for giving us the heads-up about a recently-filed cert petition involving an issue we covered in a different case recently: judicial takings. Specifically, an allegation that a federal court has taken property, and as a consequence, the United States owes just compensation. The background of the case is pretty interesting because it also raises the specter of civil forfeiture.
The petition isn’t all that long, so it’s a quick read, and we recommend you do so. But here’s the short story. Mr. and Mrs. Stanford got divorced. Apparently, Mr. Stanford was a bad guy, or at least was accused of being a bad guy. Securities fraud. But Mrs. Stanford had no part of it, and was, everyone agreed, an “innocent spouse,” having been separated from the miscreant for 15 years. The Securities and Exchange Commission, however, asked the local District Court to appoint a