1. In 2019, this Court held that the Eighth Amendment's "[p]rotection against excessive punitive economic sanctions" is both "fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty' and 'deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition." Timbs v. Indiana, 586 U.S. 146, 154. On that basis, the Court held the Excessive Fines Clause incorporated against the States. With the Clause now applicable nationwide, this case implicates an entrenched split in the state and federal courts on the legal standard for evaluating whether a fine is unconstitutionally excessive. Compare, e.g., State v. Timbs, 169 N.E.3d 361, 376 (Ind. 2021) (holding that forfeiting $35,000 Land Rover for use in low-level drug-dealing offense violated the Excessive Fines Clause), with App. 17a-18a, 21a-23a (holding that forfeiting $95,000 airplane did not violate the Excessive Fines Clause where the pilot was found to have known that a passenger's luggage contained a six-pack of beer).

2. The State of Alaska has authorized municipalities to declare themselves "dry villages" and prohibit the importation, sale, and possession of alcohol. Alaska Stat. § 04.11.491(a)(5), (b)(4). It is a crime to "knowingly send, transport, or bring an alcoholic beverage" into such a community. Id. § 04.11.499(a). In the main, the criminal penalties depend on the amount of alcohol at issue and whether the defendant is a repeat offender. Transporting 10.5 liters of spirits or 12 gallons of beer is a class C felony. Recidivists face class C felony charges as well, no matter the quantity of alcohol involved. On the less serious end of the spectrum, a first-time offender who transports less than those amounts commits only a class A misdemeanor. Id. § 04.16.200(e)(1)-(8). For that first-time offender, the minimum sentence is three days' imprisonment and a $1,500 fine.

And, potentially, forfeiture. Using a plane to transport the alcohol subjects the plane to mandatory forfeiture—no matter the amount of alcohol and no matter the seriousness of the offense. Id. § 04.16.220(i)(1). Using a boat or a car to commit the same offense exposes those vehicles to forfeiture only if the person is a recidivist or a parolee or was transporting a sizable quantity of alcohol. Jd. § 04.16.220G)(2). Airplanes, however, are "always subject to mandatory forfeiture ... regardless of whether the conviction is a misdemeanor or felony or is the defendant's first conviction." App. 19a.

Whether the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment prohibits the mandatory forfeiture of an aircraft used to transport a small quantity of alcohol into a dry village by a first-time offender