Pilot Ken Jouppi is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Alaska from taking his airplane after a misdemeanor bootlegging conviction and a 13-year-long legal battle. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled in April that the seizure of Jouppi’s plane was legal, but Jouppi’s attorneys argue the forfeiture is government overreach.

Fairbanks attorney Robert John, along with Samuel B. Gedge and Michael N. Greenberg of the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Virginia, filed the petition Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court. The attorneys contend that the Alaska Supreme Court’s decision was erroneous and that the forfeiture was a “severe economic sanction” disproportionate to the gravity of the offense.

“The Excessive Fines Clause was built for cases like this,” the petition states.

Ken Jouppi operated K

See Full Page