Brian J. Degen v. United States

Decided June 10, 1996. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-173 · 517 U.S. 820 (1996) · Cited 445 times

Holding

A district court may not strike a claimant’s filings in a forfeiture suit and grant summary judgment against him for failing to appear in a related criminal prosecution.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Ortega-Rodriguez v. United States · 507 U.S. 234 (1993)
• Link v. Wabash Railroad · 370 U.S. 626 (1962)
• Chambers v. Nasco, Inc. · 501 U.S. 32 (1991)
• Thomas v. Arn · 474 U.S. 140 (1985)
• Fuentes v. Shevin · 407 U.S. 67 (1972)
• United States v. Sharpe · 470 U.S. 675 (1985)
• Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper · 447 U.S. 752 (1980)
• National Hockey League v. Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc. · 427 U.S. 639 (1976)
• Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles Et Commerciales, S. A. v. Rogers · 357 U.S. 197 (1958)
• United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property · 510 U.S. 43 (1993)
• Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States · 487 U.S. 250 (1988)
• The United States v. Hudson and Goodwin · 11 U.S. 32 (1812)
• United States v. Kordel · 397 U.S. 1 (1970)
• Molinaro v. New Jersey · 396 U.S. 365 (1970)
• Hovey v. Elliott · 167 U.S. 409 (1897)
• Blackmer v. United States · 284 U.S. 421 (1932)
• Estelle v. Dorrough · 420 U.S. 534 (1975)
• Smith v. United States · 94 U.S. 97 (1876)
• Crosby v. United States · 506 U.S. 255 (1993)
• Allen v. Georgia · 166 U.S. 138 (1897)
• Eisler v. United States · 338 U.S. 189 (1949)
• Bohanan v. Nebraska · 125 U.S. 692 (1887)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Dietz v. Bouldin · 579 U.S. 40 (2016)
• Law v. Siegel · 571 U.S. 415 (2014)
• Smith v. Spizzirri · 601 U.S. 472 (2024)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1996). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).