The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear several intensely interesting cases in recent years whose decisions had a profound impact on the country.
But a case the high court has agreed to hear during its next session, which begins in October, is more odd than important.
Justices agreed Monday to hear an Alaska pilot’s challenge to the state’s effort to seize his 1969 Cessna after a passenger allegedly attempted to fly a six-pack of Budweiser into a dry village.
Pilot Ken Jouppi denies knowing the alcohol was on board and argues that forfeiting his aircraft would constitute an excessive fine in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Jouppi maintains that he was familiar with Alaska’s dry village laws and would not have knowingly violated them. He said the beer was packed in the passenger’s luggage and that he does not inspect passengers’ bags before flights.
He appealed to the Supreme Court after Alaska’s highest court ruled that the aircraft could be forfeited. Court filings estimate the 1969 Cessna is worth approximately $95,000.
Jouppi says in his filing that the Eighth Amendment’s protection against excessive fines was “built for cases like this.”
“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,” Jouppi’s lawyers wrote in their petition.
“The result: an airplane forfeited for a six-pack,” the filing added, per The Hill.
Jouppi is represented by the libertarian Institute for Justice, which frequently asks the Supreme Court to hear forfeiture cases and other legal disputes it argues involve government overreach.
The case is scheduled to be heard during the Supreme Court’s next term, which begins in October, with a decision expected by next summer.
The case stems from an April 3, 2012, flight Jouppi was scheduled to make for a passenger traveling from Fairbanks to Beaver.
Beaver, a remote community located just over 100 miles north of Fairbanks, is a dry village. Under Alaska law, it is a crime to “knowingly send, transport, or bring an alcoholic beverage” into the community, and any vehicle used in the offense may be subject to forfeiture.
According to court documents, state troopers arrived as Jouppi was loading the plane and discovered the beer before the flight departed.
Jouppi was sentenced to three days in jail and fined $1,500. The issue now before the Supreme Court is Alaska’s effort to seize his 1969 Cessna under the state’s forfeiture law.
In urging the justices to reject Jouppi’s appeal, Alaska argued that it faces “unique difficulties” in addressing alcohol abuse in remote communities.
The state noted that many Alaskan villages are accessible primarily by air and compared the seizure of aircraft used in criminal offenses to the government’s longstanding practice of seizing ships in certain criminal cases.
“Many remote communities in Alaska have limited law enforcement resources to respond to, for example, alcohol-fueled domestic violence,” Alaska wrote in court filings.
“They also lack the public health resources to address other problems associated with alcohol abuse,” the state’s filing said.
Earlier this month, President Trump floated a name of someone he would strongly consider for the Supreme Court if he got an opportunity to appoint another justice, which would be his fourth.
During a White House ceremony launching the Trump Accounts program—a savings initiative championed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—Trump joked that Cruz should be nominated to the Supreme Court.
The president praised Cruz’s legal background before suggesting, tongue in cheek, that the Texas senator would receive unanimous Senate confirmation because lawmakers in both parties would be eager to see him leave the chamber.