The history of the Excessive Fines Clause shows why Alaska pilot Ken Jouppi should not lose his airplane simply because he helped a passenger defy a local alcohol ban.
It will review Alaska's confiscation of a $95,000 plane arising from the pilot's illegal transportation of up to 72 cans of beer.
Ken Jouppi's Eighth Amendment challenge asks the Court to decide whether a fine must be proportional to the gravity of the crime.
Too many courts ignore the Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines.
Sandy Martinez's little-known story is a microcosm of the broader debate over what, exactly, transgresses the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on excessive fines.
Humboldt County, California's sketchy code enforcement scheme piles ruinous fines on innocent people and sets them up to lose.
Alaska has been trying to seize Ken Jouppi's Cessna for 13 years over a misdemeanor crime.
The decision overturns a staggering "disgorgement" order that was based on dubious math.
The province says this will prevent forest fires. Those who violate the ban will face a $25,000 fine.
The family also faced over $1,600 in fines, which were ultimately dropped.
Christian artist Sean Feucht has been forced to find new venues for all six of his most recent shows in Canada.
The Douglas, Michigan, city government is hitting a homeowner with crushing fines after reversing its own approval. She’s fighting back in federal court.
Powerful political allies get a pass, while dissenters are crushed with massive fines. This isn’t a flaw in the system—it’s the point.
Sandy Martinez was fined for a parking violation on her own property, driveway cracks, and a storm-damaged fence.
Bureaucrats in Dunedin, Florida, originally hit Jim Ficken with a fine close to $30,000. When he couldn't pay that, things turned dire.
Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and others have all faced legal action from the European Union in recent years.
Media investigations found over 3 million active license suspensions in the state.
For more than three decades, the Institute for Justice has shown that economic freedom and private property are essential safeguards for ordinary Americans.
Federal investigators say police in Lexington, Mississippi, used illegal searches, excessive force, and kept residents in jail when they couldn't pay off old fines.
Plus, a look at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Tina Smith's plan to resurrect public housing in America.
The fines, which can reach over $750, are disproportionately likely to be handed out to black students, a complaint with the Education Department alleges.
One man’s overgrown yard became a six-year struggle against overzealous code enforcement.
Sandy Martinez faces that bill because of driveway cracks, a storm-damaged fence, and cars parked on her own property that illegally touched her lawn.
Efforts to revamp the tourist hot spot ignore the reality for local business owners.
A former chief judge of Delaware's Family Court argues that imposing fines and fees on juvenile offenders undermines their potential to become productive, law-abiding adults.
The Supreme Court ruled that home equity theft qualifies as a taking, and that state law is not the sole source for the definition of property rights. The ruling is imprecise on some points, but still sets an important and valuable precedent.
The Brookside Police Department’s shakedown of travelers became a national news story and prompted federal lawsuits.
A $2.1 million penalty for failing to file a form on time reveals the agency’s true nature.
Should an elderly grandmother be forced to hand over millions of dollars to the government for failing to file a particular form?
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler's case challenging home equity theft.
Minnesota law allowed Hennepin County to seize a $40,000 home owned by a 93-year-old widow to pay off a $15,000 tax debt.
A federal judge denied qualified immunity for officers accused of making up charges to get money from fines.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in September that will chip away at a policy that has long been criticized as enabling racially-motivated policing.
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