302
Opinion of Stevens, J.
nearly six decades. Neither of the two cases that supposedly "affirmed" Various Items—One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U. S. 232 (1972) (per curiam), and United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U. S. 354 (1984)—even mentioned it.
More important, neither of those cases endorsed the asserted categorical rule that civil forfeitures never give rise to double jeopardy rights. Instead, each carefully considered the nature of the particular forfeiture at issue, classifying it as either "punitive" or "remedial," before deciding whether it implicated double jeopardy. Emerald Cut Stones concerned a customs statute that authorized confiscation of certain merchandise, in that case jewelry, that had been smuggled into the United States. The Court explained that the purpose of the statute was to remove such items from circulation, and that the penalty amounted to a reasonable liquidated damages award to reimburse the Government for the costs of enforcement and investigation. In those respects, therefore, it constituted a "remedial rather than punitive sanctio[n]." 409 U. S., at 237. In 89 Firearms, the Court explored in even greater detail the character of a federal statute that forfeited unregistered firearms. It reasoned that the sanction "further[ed] broad remedial aims" in preventing commerce in such weapons, and also covered a broader range of conduct than simply criminal behavior. 465 U. S., at 364. For those reasons, it was not properly characterized as a punitive sanction.
The majority, surprisingly, claims that Austin v. United States, 509 U. S. 602 (1993), "expressly recognized and approved" those decisions. Ante, at 286. But the Court creates the appearance that we endorsed its interpretation of 89 Firearms and Emerald Cut Stones by quoting selectively from Austin. We actually stated the following:
"The Double Jeopardy Clause has been held not to apply in civil forfeiture proceedings, but only in cases
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