{"id":409,"date":"2026-07-20T16:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=409"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:44:07","slug":"supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-case-on-whether-airplane-was-improperly-seized-for-transporting-a-six-pack-of-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=409","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court agrees to hear case on whether airplane was improperly seized for transporting a six-pack of beer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Supreme Court on Monday morning added a new case to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term. As part of a regularly scheduled , the justices agreed to review Jouppi v. Alaska<\/em>, an Alaskan bush pilot\u2019s challenge to the forfeiture of his $95,000 airplane \u2013 which prosecutors sought on the theory that he must have known that one of his passengers was bringing a six-pack of beer into an Alaskan village where alcohol is prohibited. That forfeiture, pilot Ken Jouppi contends, violates the Eighth Amendment\u2019s ban on excessive fines.<\/p>\n

Read more When it comes to getting the Supreme Court\u2019s attention, does one state have an edge?<\/a><\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s order list was the first of three scheduled for release during the justices\u2019 summer recess. As the court\u2019s Public Information Office explained in a press release earlier this month, \u201c[s]ummer order lists usually consist of actions taken by the Court on motions in pending cases, petitions for rehearing, and other miscellaneous matters.\u201d By issuing these orders periodically over the summer, the court can clear out some of the more routine matters on its docket before the justices return in the fall. From a litigant\u2019s perspective, the summer order lists also generally allow the court\u2019s decisions to become final, and its cases to continue to move forward, without having to wait for the fall.<\/p>\n

The summer order list can also sometimes serve another function: helping the court to fill out its argument docket for the next term. Although the justices rarely use this option, they have occasionally done so. In 2012, for example, the court took up one new case, involving an international convention on child abductions, on its August order list. And in August 2021, the justices added two new immigration cases to their docket for the fall.<\/p>\n

Before Monday\u2019s grant in Jouppi<\/em>, the justices had 24 cases scheduled for oral argument in their 2026-27 term. Assuming that the justices hear no more than two arguments per day, there are a total of 30 argument slots in the court\u2019s October, November, and December argument sessions.<\/p>\n

The case now before the court began more than 14 years ago, when Jouppi was scheduled to fly a passenger from Fairbanks to Beaver, Alaska \u2013 approximately a one-hour flight. Before Jouppi took off, state troopers arrived at the airport, searched his plane, found the beer that the passenger was bringing to her husband in Beaver, and charged both the passenger and Jouppi (as well as his company) with knowingly bringing alcohol to a \u201cdry\u201d village.<\/p>\n

Read more Almost Half of Americans View SCOTUS as Political<\/a><\/p>\n

Jouppi was found guilty. The trial judge sentenced him to three days in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of $1,500.<\/p>\n

The state also sought to forfeit Jouppi\u2019s plane. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the forfeiture did not violate the Constitution. In its view, \u201cthe forfeiture of Jouppi\u2019s airplane is not grossly disproportional to the gravity of the offense for which he has been convicted and, therefore \u2026 does not violate the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jouppi then to the Supreme Court in August, asking the justices to decide whether, to determine if a fine violates the excessive fines clause, courts should consider the gravity of the specific defendant\u2019s conduct. The justices on Monday granted review without comment; the case will likely be argued in December.<\/p>\n

The justices are scheduled to issue their next summer order list on Monday, Aug. 17.<\/p>\n

Read more Johnny Brown, Justice Jackson\u2019s father, passes away at 80<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court on Monday morning added a new case to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term. As part of a regularly scheduled , the justices agreed to review Jouppi v. Alaska, an Alaskan bush pilot\u2019s challenge to the forfeiture of his $95,000 airplane \u2013 which prosecutors sought on the theory that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court agrees to hear case on whether airplane was improperly seized for transporting a six-pack of beer - American Service Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=409\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court agrees to hear case on whether airplane was improperly seized for transporting a six-pack of beer - American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Supreme Court on Monday morning added a new case to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term. 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