52
Opinion of the Court
tain employees, without a warrant and without reasonable suspicion, do not violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures). But the purpose and effect of the Government's action in the present case go beyond the traditional meaning of search or seizure. Here the Government seized property not to preserve evidence of wrongdoing, but to assert ownership and control over the property itself. Our cases establish that government action of this consequence must comply with the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Though the Fourth Amendment places limits on the Government's power to seize property for purposes of forfeiture, it does not provide the sole measure of constitutional protection that must be afforded property owners in forfeiture proceedings. So even assuming that the Fourth Amendment were satisfied in this case, it remains for us to determine whether the seizure complied with our well-settled jurisprudence under the Due Process Clause.
B
Whether ex parte seizures of forfeitable property satisfy the Due Process Clause is a question we last confronted in Calero-Toledo v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., supra, which held that the Government could seize a yacht subject to civil forfeiture without affording prior notice or hearing. Central to our analysis in Calero-Toledo was the fact that a yacht was the "sort [of property] that could be removed to another jurisdiction, destroyed, or concealed, if advance warning of confiscation were given." Id., at 679. The ease with which an owner could frustrate the Government's interests in the forfeitable property created a " 'special need for very prompt action' " that justified the postponement of notice and hearing until after the seizure. Id., at 678 (quoting Fuentes, supra, at 91).
We had no occasion in Calero-Toledo to decide whether the same considerations apply to the forfeiture of real property,
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