Government abuse They Face $1 Million in Fines—for Someone Else's Code Violations Humboldt County, California's sketchy code enforcement scheme piles ruinous fines on innocent people and sets them up to lose. Billy Binion | 10.31.2025 5:31 PM
Civil Asset Forfeiture An Alaska Man's $95,000 Plane Was Seized Over a 6-Pack of Beer. Now He's Taking His Case to the Supreme Court. Alaska has been trying to seize Ken Jouppi's Cessna for 13 years over a misdemeanor crime. C.J. Ciaramella | 9.2.2025 4:44 PM
Excessive Fines An Appeals Court Says the $464 Million Fine in Trump's Civil Fraud Case Violated the Eighth Amendment The decision overturns a staggering "disgorgement" order that was based on dubious math. Jacob Sullum | 8.25.2025 3:35 PM
Canada Nova Scotia Bans Everyone From Hiking in the Woods Until October The province says this will prevent forest fires. Those who violate the ban will face a $25,000 fine. Sophia Mandt | 8.19.2025 2:35 PM
Wildlife Louisiana Wildlife Officials Killed a Blind Deer After a Family Nursed It Back to Health The family also faced over $1,600 in fines, which were ultimately dropped. Sophia Mandt | 8.14.2025 5:05 PM
Canada Montreal Fines Church $2,500 for Hosting a Controversial American Singer Christian artist Sean Feucht has been forced to find new venues for all six of his most recent shows in Canada. Sophia Mandt | 7.31.2025 5:30 PM
Excessive Fines She Got a Permit for Her Chickens. Now the City Is Fining Her $80,000. The Douglas, Michigan, city government is hitting a homeowner with crushing fines after reversing its own approval. She’s fighting back in federal court. C. Jarrett Dieterle | 6.28.2025 6:30 AM
Campaign Finance Campaign Finance Laws Institutionalize Corruption Powerful political allies get a pass, while dissenters are crushed with massive fines. This isn’t a flaw in the system—it’s the point. David Keating | 6.23.2025 5:45 PM
Florida Florida Woman Fined $165,000 for Trivial Code Violations Takes Her Case to the Florida Supreme Court Sandy Martinez was fined for a parking violation on her own property, driveway cracks, and a storm-damaged fence. Autumn Billings | 6.5.2025 3:05 PM
Excessive Fines The Government Threatened To Seize His Home Over Tall Grass Bureaucrats in Dunedin, Florida, originally hit Jim Ficken with a fine close to $30,000. When he couldn't pay that, things turned dire. John Stossel | 4.2.2025 1:11 AM
Technology The European Commission Is Assaulting American Tech Companies Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and others have all faced legal action from the European Union in recent years. Jack Nicastro | 3.23.2025 6:00 AM
Criminal Justice Ohio Legislature Passes Bill Ending Driver's License Suspensions for Court Debts Media investigations found over 3 million active license suspensions in the state. C.J. Ciaramella | 1.2.2025 3:18 PM
Civil Liberties Chip Mellor's Legacy Promotes a Broader Concept of Civil Liberties For more than three decades, the Institute for Justice has shown that economic freedom and private property are essential safeguards for ordinary Americans. Jacob Sullum | 10.16.2024 12:01 AM
Police Abuse Justice Department Says a Small Mississippi Town Ran a Dickensian Debtor's Prison Federal investigators say police in Lexington, Mississippi, used illegal searches, excessive force, and kept residents in jail when they couldn't pay off old fines. C.J. Ciaramella | 9.27.2024 1:17 PM
Housing Policy California County Fines Man $120,000 for Refusing to Evict a Family From His Property Plus, a look at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Tina Smith's plan to resurrect public housing in America. Christian Britschgi | 9.24.2024 1:07 PM
Education Students in This Illinois School District Are Getting Tickets for Misbehaving The fines, which can reach over $750, are disproportionately likely to be handed out to black students, a complaint with the Education Department alleges. Emma Camp | 6.24.2024 4:11 PM
Regulation Florida Man's Tall Grass Saga Comes to an End One man’s overgrown yard became a six-year struggle against overzealous code enforcement. Ari Bargil | 5.1.2024 2:00 PM
Excessive Fines A Florida Judge Says $165,000 in Fines for 3 Minor Code Violations Is Not 'Excessive' Sandy Martinez faces that bill because of driveway cracks, a storm-damaged fence, and cars parked on her own property that illegally touched her lawn. Jacob Sullum | 4.10.2024 2:30 PM
Florida Miami Beach's Breakup With Spring Breakers May Fare Poorly for the City Efforts to revamp the tourist hot spot ignore the reality for local business owners. Varad Raigaonkar | 3.14.2024 5:01 PM
Excessive Fines Ending Fees and Fines for Juvenile Offenders is Best for Rehabilitation A former chief judge of Delaware's Family Court argues that imposing fines and fees on juvenile offenders undermines their potential to become productive, law-abiding adults. Chandlee Kuhn | 3.13.2024 2:15 PM
Property Rights Major Unanimous Supreme Court Victory for Property Rights in Tyler v. Hennepin County The Supreme Court ruled that home equity theft qualifies as a taking, and that state law is not the sole source for the definition of property rights. The ruling is imprecise on some points, but still sets an important and valuable precedent. Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.25.2023 2:19 PM
Civil Asset Forfeiture Coverage of Alabama Town's Predatory Fines and Seizures Earns Journalists a Pulitzer The Brookside Police Department’s shakedown of travelers became a national news story and prompted federal lawsuits. Scott Shackford | 5.9.2023 12:15 PM
IRS The IRS Serves Its 'Customers' by Terrifying Them A $2.1 million penalty for failing to file a form on time reveals the agency’s true nature. Jacob Sullum | 1.25.2023 12:01 AM
IRS Supreme Court Declines Case Challenging Excessive IRS Penalties Should an elderly grandmother be forced to hand over millions of dollars to the government for failing to file a particular form? Scott Shackford | 1.23.2023 2:00 PM
Excessive Fines Justice Gorsuch's Dissent from Denial of Review in an Excessive Fines Clause Case Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.23.2023 12:21 PM
Supreme Court They Fell Behind on Their Property Taxes. So the Government Sold Their Homes—and Kept the Profits. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler's case challenging home equity theft. Billy Binion | 1.17.2023 4:53 PM
Takings Supreme Court Decides to Hear Case Challenging State Law Empowering Government to Seize Entire Value of a House to Pay Much Smaller Property Tax Debt Minnesota law allowed Hennepin County to seize a $40,000 home owned by a 93-year-old widow to pay off a $15,000 tax debt. Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.14.2023 12:17 AM
Qualified Immunity Woman Can Sue Alabama Cops for Towing Car as Part of Town's Profiteering Scheme A federal judge denied qualified immunity for officers accused of making up charges to get money from fines. Scott Shackford | 10.31.2022 2:30 PM
California Decriminalizing Jaywalking in California Will Help Reduce Police Harassment Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in September that will chip away at a policy that has long been criticized as enabling racially-motivated policing. Emma Camp | 10.27.2022 10:50 AM
Excessive Fines He Didn't Break Any Rules. New York City Is Demanding He Pay a Fine Anyway The Big Apple's building regulations are almost impossible to navigate, and officials like it that way. J.D. Tuccille | 9.19.2022 7:00 AM
Supreme Court This Grandmother Didn't Submit the Proper Banking Form. Now the IRS Wants $2.1 Million From Her. She’s asking the Supreme Court to consider whether this seizure is an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment. Scott Shackford | 8.30.2022 2:10 PM
Police This Alabama Town's Shakedowns Are So Egregious That the Justice Department Is Backing a Suit Against It Brookside faces several federal challenges for trying to fund its city by ticketing and towing the cars of anybody they can get away with. Scott Shackford | 7.28.2022 1:55 PM
Civil Liberties Illinois Appeals Court Rules Chicago Slapped Drivers With Illegally High Fines for Years A plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit says he had to declare bankruptcy after Chicago dumped $20,000 of ticket debts on him. C.J. Ciaramella | 5.9.2022 4:33 PM
Free Speech Washington S. Ct. Upholds $18M Fine for Violating Campaign Disclosure Rules The court rejected an Excessive Fines Clause challenge (by a 5-4 vote) and a First Amendment challenge. Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.20.2022 12:00 PM
