EXCESSIVE FINES: Don’t get too excited about the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday. All that was decided was that the Constitution’s Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states. The ramifications of that decision must wait for another day.

For more on how some municipalities may rely too heavily on fines and fees for their budgets, you might want to look at my Commissioner Statement in the Commission on Civil Rights’ report entitled Targeted Fines and Fees Against Communities of Color: Civil Rights and Constitutional Implications. It doesn’t cover every angle of the problem of excessive fines and fees, but I hope it makes a few useful points. Among other things, it argues this is not a race issue (though most of my colleagues seemed to think it was).

There are lots of tough issues in this area of the law (and the debate doesn’t always fit the usual left/right paradigm).  (Full report here.)