Supreme Court to Hear $95,000 Alaska Plane Forfeiture Case Over 6-Pack Fine

1 articles · Updated · Daily Signal · Sep 23

Dec. 1 is the hearing date for Jouppi v. Alaska, which asks whether seizing a $95,000 airplane after a misdemeanor alcohol-transport conviction violates the Eighth Amendment’s excessive-fines bar.
Kenneth Jouppi, an Alaska air-taxi operator, received three days in jail, a $1,500 fine and probation after a jury convicted him of knowingly transporting alcohol into the dry village of Beaver.
Alaska still pursued the plane, his main business asset, even though the trial judge repeatedly found forfeiture excessive; the Alaska Supreme Court later upheld the seizure as a matter of law.
The case will test how far the court’s 1998 Bajakajian precedent reaches, including whether judges must weigh the defendant’s actual conduct and whether forfeiture destroys a person’s livelihood.