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posted by takyon on Thursday February 21 2019, @03:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the kick-back dept.

Supreme Court curbs power of government to impose heavy fines and seize property

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled to drastically curb the powers that states and cities have to levy fines and seize property, marking the first time the court has applied the Constitution's ban on excessive fines at the state level.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who returned to the court for the first time in almost two months after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, wrote the majority opinion in the case involving an Indiana man who had his Land Rover seized after he was arrested for selling $385 of heroin.

"Protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout Anglo-American history for good reason: Such fines undermine other liberties," Ginsburg wrote. "They can be used, e.g., to retaliate against or chill the speech of political enemies. They can also be employed, not in service of penal purposes, but as a source of revenue."

Also at National Review, SCOTUSblog, and NPR.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Thursday February 21 2019, @03:33AM

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 21 2019, @03:33AM (#804355) Journal

    Civil forfeiture in this country has reached a state where it is terribly abusive to the citizenry. It's good when abusive aspects of our legal system are addressed.
    .
    Like interesting history however, you don't want to any part of it until after it is done :-p

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