SCOTUS To Hear Alaska Alcohol, C-206 Forfeiture Case

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a case where the state of Alaska sought to confiscate a Cessna U206D belonging to charter pilot Kenneth Jouppi. The case stems from a planned April 3, 2012 Ken Air flight from Fairbanks to Beaver, and some luggage that contained beer, which was a prohibited item in Beaver.

Before takeoff, an Alaska state trooper searched the 206 and found three cases of beer, including a six-pack in a paper bag. According to attorney James Crowson, who is not involved in the case, the jury in Jouppi’s trial ruled that he saw the six-pack and thus knew that alcohol was being transported to Beaver. Jouppi was convicted and sentenced to a $1,500 fine and three days in jail, and his airplane became the subject of a long-running effort by the state to confiscate it, in addition to the punishment he had already received. 

While the airplane’s value is claimed as $95,000, recent rises in aircraft prices likely make it worth more. Jouppi appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled in April 2025 that the confiscation was upheld. 

The appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is intended to determine whether the forfeiture of Jouppi’s airplane violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution’s excessive fines clause, according to Crowson. 

“The facts of this case are unusual enough that it’s easy to lose sight of the legal question. The Supreme Court isn’t deciding whether Alaska can enforce its alcohol laws. It’s deciding whether the Constitution places limits on how severe the government’s punishment can be once a crime has occurred. The justices will be weighing whether taking a $95,000 airplane was a proportionate response under these circumstances. However they rule, that answer won’t stop at Alaska’s borders,” he noted.

In the Alaska Supreme Court case, the court decided that taking an airplane claimed to be worth $95,000 was proportional. The state’s Supreme Court cited precedents in another case where it said that a large fine—essentially the government keeping $357,000 that a non-U.S. citizen was trying to take out of the country—was too high. But the Alaska court didn’t think the state’s attempt to confiscate Jouppi’s airplane rose to the same level as that case.

Oral arguments at the Supreme Court are scheduled for the upcoming term, and a decision should be made by mid-2027, according to Crowson. 

“If the Supreme Court rules that the forfeiture is not proportionate,” he said, “then the [Alaska] statute is unconstitutional, and the legislature has to come up with new language.”