(UnitedHeadlines.com) – The liberal, late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could help former President Donald Trump as he attempts to secure the $464 million bond sum in his civil fraud case.
Though Ginsburg was not a supporter of Trump, her opinion from a 2019 case could help him as he seeks to appeal the judgment in the case. In the case, Indiana sought civil forfeiture of Tyson Timbs’ Land Rover SUV, which cost $42,000, after Timbs pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and drug dealing. The judge in that case ruled the $10,000 fine and forfeiture of the vehicle was an excessive fine in violation of the Eighth Amendment because it was worth four times the penalty. The Court of Appeals upheld the ruling. However, the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the ruling, arguing that the prohibition of excessive fines only applied to the federal government, not the states.
Ginsburg wrote the opinion for the Supreme Court’s Feb. 20, 2019, ruling, in which the Supreme Court determined the Eighth Amendment also applies to states and not only the federal government. In the opinion, she noted that fines cannot be too large “as to deprive [an offender] of his livelihood.” The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling means states cannot require “excessive fines.”
Many people are now pointing to that ruling by the Supreme Court as why Trump will not be responsible for the large amount.
Former chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese, Mark Levin, said that ruling is the “key” to saving Trump from “New York’s attempt to legalize the stealing” of his property.
Susan Shelley also mentioned how the 2019 Supreme Court ruling would protect Trump from New York in her opinion column published in the Los Angeles Daily News.
In his February ruling, Judge Arthur Engoron fined Trump $464 million. For three years, the ruling prohibits the Trump Organization from applying for loans from any financial institution that does business in New York.
Engoron also denied Trump a 30-day extension on the due date for the fine, which must be paid before Trump can appeal the judgment.
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