US Supreme Court to hear Alaska plane forfeiture case over Excessive Fines Clause

Published Jul 22, 10:00 AM UTC

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Jouppi v. Alaska, a case stemming from a 2012 incident where Alaska sought to seize Ken Jouppi's $95,000 Cessna airplane because a passenger brought three cases of beer into the dry village of Beaver. Jouppi was charged with misdemeanor importation of alcohol, sentenced to three days in jail, and faced forfeiture of his plane under state law. The trial court initially declined forfeiture, but the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed, citing mandatory forfeiture. Jouppi argues the forfeiture violates the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause, as the maximum fine for the offense was $10,000. The Supreme Court will use the case to further clarify the proportionality standard established in United States v. Bajakajian (1998) and applied to states in Timbs v. Indiana (2019). The case highlights tensions between local dry laws in remote Alaskan villages and constitutional protections against excessive financial penalties.