A Remote Alaska Village, a Small Aircraft, and a Few Cases of Beer

These are the ingredients that have set up a major Supreme Court case about excessive fines that could shape the future of criminal asset forfeiture across the United States.

Fourteen years ago, the state of Alaska tried to seize a man’s $95,000 small airplane because one of his passengers tried to bring beer into a dry village. Now the Supreme Court will use his case to further clarify the scope of the excessive fines Clause.

The justices announced on Monday that they would hear Jouppi v. Alaska next term, giving them a rare opportunity to expand upon of one of the Eighth Amendment’s most overlooked provisions. The case’s basic facts illustrate how states can pursue harsh financial sanctions against defendants, even for some misdemeanor offenses.

“For certain Alaskan villages, it’s a crime to bring in alcohol,” the defendant noted in his petition for review. “And when the means of importation is an airplane, the plane is subject to forfeiture. No matter that the offense is a misdemeanor. As here. No matter that the pilot is a first-time offender. As here. No matter that the alcohol is a six-pack of Budweiser. As here. No matter that it belonged to a customer. As here. The result: an airplane forfeited for a six-pack.”

What may seem strange to Americans in the Lower 48 states is likely a familiar tale to those in the Last Frontier. Alaska’s vast interior is populated by small villages. Many of those villages have strict “dry” laws. The strictest ones forbid not only the sale of alcohol but also the importation and possession of it. Alaska’s state legislature gave rural communities the power to set these limits in the 1980s to address concerns about high alcoholism rates and their associated ills.

Much of Alaska’s interior can also only be reached by airplane, so residents and tourists frequently rely on small-scale private pilots to reach their destinations. One of those pilots is Ken Jouppi. He was in his late sixties when he flew passengers from the city of Fairbanks to the village of Beaver on his small private Cessna in 2012. A passenger on the flight was bringing groceries with her, including three cases of beer.

According to state officials, Jouppi’s........

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