Supreme Court to Decide If Seizing $95,000 Airplane over 6-Pack of Bud Was Excessive

Does seizure of a %95,000 1969 Cessna airplane because a passenger brought a six-pack of beer into Beaver, a remote Alaskan village, violate the U.S. Constitution prohibit against excessive penalties.

The pilot and owner of the airplane, Kenneth Jouppi, says it does and the U.S Supreme court has agreed to hear the case in the fall.

“The Excessive Fines Clause was built for cases like this,” Jouppi’s lawyers told the court in urging the justices to hear the case. States have been increasingly eager to use civil fines try to shape behavior, and grab some extra cash, they added. The punishment should fit the crime, they said.