Timbs v. Indiana

The case asked whether Indiana could seize Tyson Timbs's $42,000 Land Rover through civil forfeiture after he used it to transport heroin, even though the vehicle was worth more than the maximum criminal fine for his offense. On February 20, 2019, the Supreme Court said the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause applies to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Court decided on February 20, 2019 that the Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states, but the prompt does not provide the vote count or opinion lineup.

The decision means states and local governments must follow the federal Constitution's ban on excessive fines. For example, a person can argue that a state cannot take a car worth far more than the fine tied to the offense.

The Supreme Court has finished this docket action. State courts and officials must now treat the Excessive Fines Clause as binding on the states.

The fight was over whether the Eighth Amendment's ban on excessive fines limits state governments. It arose after Indiana sought to seize Timbs's $42,000 Land Rover.

People can challenge state fines and forfeitures as unconstitutionally excessive. That matters when the government tries to take valuable property for an offense with a much smaller maximum fine.

The Supreme Court's work on this docket was over. State courts and state officials had to apply the Excessive Fines Clause in future state cases.