The Government Took His $95,000 Plane Over a Six-Pack of Beer

**Michael Smerconish** (0:00)
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**Michael Smerconish** (0:34)
Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast for Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:38)
If I were to mention the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, I think that most POTUS listeners would probably say, it prohibits cruel or unusual, cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishment. I would award bonus points if you said something about excessive bail. I think that would be well beyond the vast majority. And I doubt any of us would have said the third component of the Eighth Amendment. I confess, I'm an attorney. I would not have. If you said to me, Michael, Eighth Amendment, I would have nailed cruel and unusual punishment, probably would have said excessive bail. I'm looking at the Eighth Amendment right now, so I'm kind of cheating, but I would like to think that I would have referenced excessive bail. But the third component is not one that I would have offered. The wording of the Eighth Amendment is as follows. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, nor excessive fines imposed. What does that mean? I love when people say, oh, just interpret the Constitution, apply the law. All right, fine. What does it mean? Excessive fine.
I want you to picture this scene. It's a gravel airstrip in Fairbanks, Alaska. Wind back the clock. It's April of 2012 There's still snow on the ground. And there sits a small single engine plane. It's a 1969 Cessna.
The Cessna is loaded up and it's ready to fly a passenger 110 miles to the north. You might be thinking, geez, 110 miles. Why do you need to take a flight? This flight is headed to a village called Beaver. It's on the Yukon River. There are no roads to Beaver. That's the answer to the question. There's no other way in.
You know something about this because of your upbringing?

**TC Cannon** (2:49)
One of us in the studio has lived in Fairbanks, Alaska.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:52)
Would not be me.

**TC Cannon** (2:53)
When I was little, three, four and five, we lived in Alaska.
My father is a physician, but he's also a lifelong pilot and worked for the Public Health Service. He flew around and had medical control over all of these remote villages where the only way to get there is by either seaplane or regular plane, both of which he flew. So yes, I know a little bit about this.

**Michael Smerconish** (3:12)
Okay, there you go.

**TC Cannon** (3:15)
Planes like this are as ubiquitous as trucks up in Alaska, truly. I mean, it's just not a... That is how people get around.

**Michael Smerconish** (3:21)
If you want to get from Fairbanks to Beaver, that's the only way you can do it. Alaskans have been doing this for a long time, a bush pilot and a small plane. The pilot's name is Ken Jopie.
And before he can take off, state troopers walk up to the plane, they search it, and they find in his passenger's luggage beer. A total of three cases. If you've seen the headline, you might see the headline. In fact, the headline in the smerconish.com Daily News letter today references a six-pack. I'll explain. But two Budweiser, one Bud Light, case of beer. A birthday present says the passenger for her husband.
And now, that beer is about to cost Ken Jopie his $95,000 airplane. And 14 years later, this is really interesting, Michael. Thank you. And we appreciated TC's contribution. Where are we going with this? What? The Supreme Court of the United States yesterday agreed to take this case. The highest court in the country is going to sit down and decide whether the government was permitted to take the man's airplane for transporting the beer. What's the language again? Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. So, this is the question to wrestle with. You know, it's a shame that it requires knowledge of this case to fashion this into a poll question. I don't know, maybe I'll figure it out for tomorrow or the next day. But how much can the government take from you as punishment for a crime before the Constitution would say, that's too much?