84
Court effectively declares that many of the customs laws are facially unconstitutional as they apply under 21 U. S. C. § 881(d) to forfeiture actions brought pursuant to § 881(a)(7). See, e. g., 19 U. S. C. §§ 1602, 1605 (authorizing seizure prior to adversary proceedings). We should avoid reaching beyond the question presented in order to fashion a broad constitutional rule when doing so is unnecessary for resolution of the case before us. Cf. Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 347 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring). The Court's over-reaching is particularly unfortunate in this case because the Court's solicitude is so clearly misplaced: Good is not an "innocent owner"; he is a convicted drug offender.
Like Justice O'Connor, I cannot agree with the Court that "under the circumstances of this case—where the property owner was previously convicted of a drug offense involving the property, the Government obtained a warrant before seizing it, and the residents were not dispossessed— there was a due process violation simply because Good did not receive preseizure notice and an opportunity to be heard." Ante, at 73-74 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Wherever the due process line properly should be drawn, in circumstances such as these, a preseizure hearing is not required as a matter of constitutional law. Moreover, such a hearing would be unhelpful to the property owner. As a practical matter, it is difficult to see what purpose it would serve. Notice, of course, is provided by the conviction itself. In my view, seizure of the property without more formalized notice and an opportunity to be heard is simply one of the many unpleasant collateral consequences that follows from conviction of a serious drug offense. Cf. Price v. Johnston, 334 U. S. 266, 285 (1948) ("Lawful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights").
It might be argued that this fact-specific inquiry is too narrow. Narrow, too, however, was the first question pre-
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