4 ms·

Requiring a description of the contents would be abusing the warrant to gain access to information the warrant didn't cover. All they should need to claim their

Requiring a description of the contents would be abusing the warrant to gain access to information the warrant didn't cover. All they should need to claim their property is proof of their identity as the owner of the safe deposit box, including the key to the box. At that point they should be granted access to the box in private so that they can remove their property, just as if they were claiming it from the original custodian. The FBI definitely should not be opening the boxes themselves or attempting to inventory their contents.

curryst 5y ago
It's actually worse than that. Assuming you do have something illegal in those boxes, they've pulled a legal maneuver whereby you are forced to claim ownership. It's an end-run around the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. They seized your property and require you to incriminate yourself to get it back. Lockboxes where the contents are legal will presumably be claimed by their owners, unless the contents are somehow embarrassing. Illegal lockboxes won't be claimed, and the FBI has effectively seized them without needing a warrant for the contents. I'll be surprised if the FBI wins this in court, but it won't make any difference. This will take years to hash out, and by the time it's done, all the legal lockboxes will have already been claimed. The illegal ones are presumably anonymous, and the FBI will just say "oh well, if they won't claim it then we don't know whose it is, so I guess it's ours".