The Supreme Court docket on Monday morning added a brand new case to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term. As a part of a repeatedly scheduled summer order list, the justices agreed to evaluation Jouppi v. Alaska, an Alaskan bush pilot’s problem to the forfeiture of his $95,000 airplane – which prosecutors sought on the speculation that he will need to have identified that certainly one of his passengers was bringing a six-pack of beer into an Alaskan village the place alcohol is prohibited. That forfeiture, pilot Ken Jouppi contends, violates the Eighth Modification’s ban on extreme fines.
Monday’s order record was the primary of three scheduled for launch in the course of the justices’ summer season recess. Because the courtroom’s Public Data Workplace defined in a press release earlier this month, “[s]ummer order lists normally encompass actions taken by the Court docket on motions in pending instances, petitions for rehearing, and different miscellaneous issues.” By issuing these orders periodically over the summer season, the courtroom can filter out a few of the extra routine issues on its docket earlier than the justices return within the fall. From a litigant’s perspective, the summer season order lists additionally usually permit the courtroom’s choices to change into closing, and its instances to proceed to maneuver ahead, with out having to attend for the autumn.
The summer season order record may typically serve one other operate: serving to the courtroom to fill out its argument docket for the autumn. Though the justices hardly ever use this selection, they’ve often completed so. In 2012, for instance, the court took up one new case, involving a global conference on youngster abductions, on its August order record. And in August 2021, the justices added two new immigration cases to their docket for the autumn.
Earlier than Monday’s grant in Jouppi, the justices had 24 instances scheduled for oral argument of their 2026-27 time period. Assuming that the justices hear not more than two arguments per day, there are a complete of 30 argument slots within the courtroom’s October, November, and December argument periods.
The case now earlier than the courtroom started greater than 14 years in the past, when Jouppi was scheduled to fly a passenger from Fairbanks to Beaver, Alaska – roughly a one-hour flight. Earlier than Jouppi took off, state troopers arrived on the airport, searched his airplane, discovered the beer that the passenger was bringing to her husband in Beaver, and charged each the passenger and Jouppi (in addition to his firm) with knowingly bringing alcohol to a “dry” village.
Jouppi was discovered responsible. The trial decide sentenced him to 3 days in jail and ordered him to pay a advantageous of $1,500.
The state additionally sought to forfeit Jouppi’s airplane. The Alaska Supreme Court docket ruled that the forfeiture didn’t violate the Structure. In its view, “the forfeiture of Jouppi’s airplane is just not grossly disproportional to the gravity of the offense for which he has been convicted and, subsequently … doesn’t violate the Extreme Fines Clause of the Eighth Modification.”
Jouppi then came to the Supreme Court docket in August, asking the justices to resolve whether or not, to find out if a advantageous violates the extreme fines clause, courts ought to think about the gravity of the particular defendant’s conduct. The justices on Monday granted evaluation with out remark; the case will probably be argued in December.
The justices are scheduled to subject their subsequent summer season order record on Monday, Aug. 17.
