Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
Of late, the Eleventh Circuit has been at the cutting-edge of excessive-fines litigation. And in a recent case—United States v. Schwarzbaum—the court got some important things right (e.g., that the Excessive Fines Clause does indeed apply to multi-million-dollar civil penalties). But it also got some important things wrong (e.g., the legal standard for determining what's excessive), and wrong in ways that are hard to square with Supreme Court precedent and the precedent of other courts. In a modest but insightful paper, two of IJ's excessive-fines mavens break things down and explain why Schwarzbaum might be a decent candidate for an en banc rethink—whether or not either side asks for it!
Friends, this week marks the official Tenth Anniversary of Short Circuit. Zounds! Please do come and join us at this big thing with important people we're doing live and in person on April 3 in D.C.
