Yesterday the Gray Lady herself — paper of record, all the news that’s fit to print — published my op-ed. I teach, write, and speak because I care deeply about law and democracy. That said, I admit that publishing in the New York Times is a particular thrill. The Times editors were great and even generously included a mention in the tag line of our fledgling Substack community!
Before the op-ed was written, I explored the fascinating case — a pilot, remote Alaska, a six-pack, a dry village, a seized plane, and the Constitution all in one — with Diane Macedo on ABC News (shoutout to ace producer, Alyssa Acquavella, and our awesome ABC colleagues for that segment). A video link to that conversation is also linked below.
For those of you who missed the NYT piece, here is how it opens:
Ken Jouppi has wanted to fly since boyhood. He fixed up Boeing B-52s as an Air Force mechanic, earned his pilot’s license in the late 1960s and moved to Alaska, where he made his living flying a one-man air taxi, KenAir, over some of the emptiest country in America.
In 2012, Mr. Jouppi agreed to fly a woman up north, to Beaver, a village of fewer than a hundred people, to visit her husband. He loaded her luggage and groceries into his plane. But before they could take off, troopers searched the compartment and found a six-pack of beer clearly visible. Alcohol is banned in Beaver, so they charged Mr. Jouppi, his company and the passenger with importing alcohol into a dry village.
Mr. Jouppi claims he didn’t see the beer, but a jury convicted him of a misdemeanor anyway, and the judge gave him three days in jail and a $1,500 fine — the minimum sentence. But because Alaska law says that bootleggers have to forfeit any airplane used to smuggle alcohol, the prosecutors then tried to seize his plane, a 1969 Cessna, worth about $95,000.
Here is an unlocked gift link to the article on NYTimes.com
The ABC News Live segment is linked here.
It’s a fascinating case! Comments welcome.
And as always, I'm glad you're here. I'm grateful you're engaged. Here and everywhere. — James
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