United States v. Premises Known As 281 Syosset Woodbury Road

CALABRESI, Circuit Judge:

The wife of a convicted drug dealer seeks to distance herself from her husband’s activities by asserting an innocent owner defense in a forfeiture proceeding against the family home. At the same time, she asserts the right to protect the harmony and intimacy of her marriage by invoking the testimonial privileges that allow a husband and wife to limit their testimony against each other. Her claims are ultimately unsuccessful, but they force us to explore the justifications for the common law marital privileges as they operate in the context of one kind of modern family.