El-Ali v. State

Justice WILLETT, joined by Justice LEHRMANN and Justice DEVINE, dissenting to the denial of the petition for review.

This is the story of a Chevrolet truck, but to some observers it evokes less Chevy than Kafka. The modern Texas asset-forfeiture regime bears little resemblance to what we reviewed in 1957 when we last visited this subject.1 In my view, the civil-forfeiture realities of 2014 — the prevalence, procedures, and profitability — compel us to reexamine the constitutional protections due innocent property owners.

The stakes are grave indeed, as asset-forfeiture cases threaten not merely…