SCOTUS Takes Case of Pilot Who Lost Plane Over 6-Pack

The Supreme Court is about to decide whether a six-pack of Budweiser is enough to cost an Alaska bush pilot his plane. The justices on Monday agreed to hear the case of Ken Jouppi, whose 1969 Cessna—valued at about $95,000—faces forfeiture after troopers in 2012 found beer in a passenger's luggage bound for Beaver, a remote "dry" village north of Fairbanks. the Hill reports. Jouppi served three days in jail and paid a $1,500 fine for illegally transporting alcohol, but he says he had no idea the beer was on board and doesn't search passengers' bags. Alaska's top court ruled against him last year.

Now he argues that taking his aircraft violates the Constitution's ban on excessive fines—an issue his lawyers say the Eighth Amendment was "built for."

• "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," his lawyers wrote in their petition to the Supreme Court. "The result: an airplane forfeited for a six-pack."
• "I'm in my 80s now, and I've been fighting this for over a decade because I see it as my duty to ensure that the Bill of Rights actually means something in protecting against government overreach," Jouppi said in a statement, per the AP.
• Alaska counters that forfeiting aircraft is a key tool in fighting alcohol abuse in villages reachable mainly by air, likening the move to long-standing seizures of ships in criminal cases. The passenger had more beer in boxes but the pilot was only charged over the six-pack. During his 2013 trial, a trooper testified that Jouppi would have to have been "blind" not to notice it in a grocery bag, the Washington Post reports.

Alaska counters that forfeiting aircraft is a key tool in fighting alcohol abuse in villages reachable mainly by air, likening the move to long-standing seizures of ships in criminal cases. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in its next term, which begins in October, with a ruling expected by summer. The case could lead to the court reining in the ability of state and local governments to seize assets, Fox News reports.

• As for the aircraft, it currently sits on a tarmac in Alaska, the Post reports. Jouppi, who is Finnish and now lives in Idaho, has said he will probably sell it if he gets it back. "When they took my plane, I was forced into retirement," he told the New York Times last year. "You spend a lot of sleepless nights. It hasn't been a pleasant experience at all." He added: "I don't know if you're familiar with the Finnish people but we're awful damn stubborn."