128
Opinion of Stevens, J.
Although proceeds subject to § 881(h) are "described" in the first part of subsection (a)(6), the last clause of that subsection exempts certain proceeds—proceeds owned by one unaware of their criminal source—from forfeiture. As the Senate Report on the 1984 amendment correctly observed, the amendment applies only to "property which is subject to civil forfeiture under section 881(a)." 22 Under § 881(a)(6), the property of one who can satisfy the innocent owner defense is not subject to civil forfeiture. Because the success of any defense available under § 881(a) will necessarily determine whether § 881(h) applies, § 881(a)(6) must allow an assertion of the defense before § 881(h) applies.23
22 The Report provides: "Section 306 also adds two new subsections at the end of section 881. The first provides that all right, title, and interest in property which is subject to civil forfeiture under section 881(a) vests in the United States upon the commission of the acts giving rise to the forfeiture." S. Rep. No. 98-225, p. 215 (1983) (emphasis added).
23 The logic of the Government's argument would apparently apply as well to the innocent owner defense added to the statute in 1988. That amendment provides, in part:
"[N]o conveyance shall be forfeited under this paragraph to the extent of an interest of an owner, by reason of any act or omission established by that owner to have been committed or omitted without the knowledge, consent, or willful blindness of the owner." § 6075(3)(C), 102 Stat. 4324. That amendment presumably was enacted to protect lessors like the owner whose yacht was forfeited in a proceeding that led this Court to observe: "It therefore has been implied that it would be difficult to reject the constitutional claim of an owner whose property subjected to forfeiture had been taken from him without his privity or consent. See, [Peisch v. Ware, 4 Cranch 347, 364 (1808)]; Goldsmith-Grant Co. v. United States, 254 U. S., at 512; United States v. One Ford Coupe Automobile, 272 U. S., at 333; Van Oster v. Kansas, 272 U. S., at 467. Similarly, the same might be said of an owner who proved not only that he was uninvolved in and unaware of the wrongful activity, but also that he had done all that reasonably could be expected to prevent the proscribed use of his property; for, in that circumstance, it would be difficult to conclude that forfeiture served legitimate purposes and was not unduly oppressive. Cf. Armstrong v.
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