The Supreme Court has agreed to look at class-action lawsuits filed by two women whose automobiles were seized by local governments even though they committed no crimes.
The women said they were deprived of due process by two municipalities in Alabama that failed to properly justify their actions. The women filed suit in federal court.
The Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on April 17 in the case. No justices dissented from the decision to hear the case. For a petition to move to oral argument, at least four of the nine justices have to vote in the affirmative.
The decision comes as the court prepares to hear a separate case next week about local government seizures in a different legal context. On April 26 the court will hold oral argument in the “home equity theft” case of Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota, which challenges the constitutionality of laws that allow local governments to take the full value of a home as payment for much smaller property tax debts….