Cite as: 518 U. S. 267 (1996)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
in pari materia.3 By confining its holding to civil forfeitures fairly characterized as remedial, and by distinguishing cases that had applied the Fifth Amendment to other types of forfeitures, Emerald Cut Stones and 89 Firearms recognized the possibility that the Double Jeopardy Clause might apply to certain punitive civil forfeiture proceedings. One of the mysteries of the Court's opinion is that although it claims that civil in rem forfeiture cannot be understood as punishment, it devotes Part II-C to examining the actual purposes of the forfeiture in these cases and "proving" that they are not punitive. If the Court truly adhered to the logic of its position, that entire section would be unnecessary.
Read properly, therefore, 89 Firearms and Emerald Cut Stones are not inconsistent with, but set the stage for, the modern understanding of how the Double Jeopardy Clause applies in nominally civil proceedings. That understanding has been developed in a trio of recent decisions: United States v. Halper, 490 U. S. 435 (1989), Austin v. United States, 509 U. S. 602 (1993), and Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. 767 (1994). The Court of Appeals found that the combined effect of two of those decisions—Halper and Austin—established the proposition that forfeitures under 21 U. S. C. § 881(a)(7) implicated double jeopardy. This Court rejects that conclusion, asserting that none of these cases changed the "oft-affirmed rule" of Various Items. Ante, at 279.
It is the majority, however, that has "misread" Halper, Austin, and Kurth Ranch by artificially cabining each to a separate sphere, see ante, at 288, and treating the three as if they concerned unrelated subjects. In fact, all three were devoted to the common enterprise of giving meaning to the idea of "punishment," a concept that plays a central role in
3 If anything, the Double Jeopardy Clause ought to apply to a broader set of proceedings than the Self-Incrimination Clause. While the latter applies only in a "criminal case," the former concerns any type of "jeopardy," presumably a larger class of situations. See U. S. Const., Amdt. 5.
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