Whether a timely-filed 21 U.S.C. § 853(n) petition may be amended to cure a pleading deficiency after the 30-day filing period has run

QUESTION PRESENTED When a person is convicted of a drug crime, 21 U.S.C. § 853 calls for bifurcated proceedings to ascertain what property may be forfeited as a result of the crime. During the initial criminal proceeding—in which third parties may not participate—a court adjudicates whether the property that has been seized has a nexus to the crime. If so, the court must enter a preliminary order of forfeiture, at which point any innocent person who asserts an interest in the property has 30 days to initiate a civil action by petitioning for “a hearing to adjudicate the validity of his alleged interest in the property.” Id. § 853(n)(2). Under the plain text of this statute, it is clear that the government has “clear title to property that is the subject of the order of forfeiture,” id. § 853(n)(7), if no petition is filed within 30 days. But what happens if a petition that contains a readily correctible pleading deficiency is filed within 30 days and the petitioner promptly seeks leave to amend to correct that pleading deficiency? The Second and Seventh Circuits say leave to amend is allowed. But in the decision below, the Eleventh Circuit widened a circuit split by joining the Fifth Circuit in finding that § 853(n) precludes district courts from allowing amendment once the 30-day filing period has run. The question presented is: Whether a timely-filed 21 U.S.C. § 853(n) petition may be amended to cure a pleading deficiency after the li QUESTION PRESENTED—Continued 30-day filing period has run, as the Second and Seventh Circuits hold; or whether § 853(n)(2)’s 30-day deadline for filing a petition precludes any amendment after the filing deadline has expired, as the Eleventh and Fifth Circuits hold.