Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is Incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause

Timbs v. Indiana

No. 17-1091

Supreme Court of the United States

Decided February 20, 2019

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ISSUE:

Whether the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment and through the Due Process Clause is applicable to the States.

HOLDING:

The Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is an incorporated protection applicable to the States under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.  The Due Process Clause incorporates and renders applicable to the States Bill of Rights protections fundamental to the nation’s scheme of ordered liberty or rooted in the nation’s history and traditions. 

FACTS OF THE CASE:

Tyson Timbs plead guilty to dealing in a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit theft in Indiana State court.  When Timb’s was arrested, police officers seized his Land Rover SUV which he purchased for $42,000 with money received from an insurance policy. 

After pleading guilty in the criminal case, the trial court held a hearing on the forfeiture demand.  Originally, the Supreme Court of Indiana denied the requested forfeiture because forfeiture of the Land Rover would be disproportionate to the gravity of Timb’s offense and, therefore, unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.  The Indiana Supreme Court later reversed, stating that the Executive Fines Clause constrains only federal action and is inapplicable to state impositions.  

COURT’S ANALYSIS:

The Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is an incorporated protection applicable to the States under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.  The Due Process Clause incorporates and renders applicable to the States Bill of Rights protections fundamental to the nation’s scheme of ordered liberty or rooted in the nation’s history and traditions. 

With the exception of a handful of scenarios, the Court has determined that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause incorporates the protections contained in the Bill of Rights, rendering them applicable to the States.  Incorporated Bill of Rights guarantees are enforced against the States under the Fourteenth Amendment according to the same standards that protect those personal rights against federal encroachment.  Therefore, there is no distinction between the federal and state conduct the Bill of Rights prohibits or requires. 

Under the Eighth Amendment, excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.  The Court focuses on the phrase “nor excessive fines imposed” which limits the government’s power to extract payments, whether monetary or in kind as punishment for some offense.  The Court determined that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates this protection. 

In support of applying the Eighth Amendment to the States, the Court cited the Magna Carta, the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Bill of Rights.  By 1787, the constitutions of eight States, which accounted for 70% of the U.S. population, forbade excessive fines.  In 1868, the constitutions of 35 states, accounting for over 90% of the U.S. population, prohibited excessive fines. 

Although the States’ apparent agreement that the right guaranteed by the Excessive Fines Clause was fundamental, abuse continued through involuntary labor in lieu of fines imposed upon newly freed slaves.  It was not until Congressional debates over the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that the joint resolution, otherwise known as the Fourteenth Amendment, mentioned the use of fines to coerce involuntary labor.  Today, all fifty States have a constitutional provision prohibiting the imposition of excessive fines either directly or by requiring proportionality. 

Through the Incorporation Doctrine of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Due Process Clause, the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is now applicable to all fifty states, they cannot force people to pay excessive fines or punishment.