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66 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 112 (1991)
United States v. Halper, Punitive Civil Fines, and the Double Jeopardy and Excessive Fines Clauses

handle is hein.journals/nylr66 and id is 130 raw text is: UNITED STA TES v. HALPER, PUNITIVE CIVIL FINES, AND THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY AND EXCESSIVE FINES CLAUSES ELIZABETH S. JAHNCKE INTRODUCTION In 1985, Irwin Halper was convicted of sixty-five violations of the federal criminal false claims statute.' Halper, whose crimes caused the government $585 in actual losses,2 was sentenced to two years imprison- ment and fined $5000.3 The government subsequently filed a civil action against Halper under the civil False Claims Act4 based on the same sixty- five false claims.5 In that action, the government sought statutory penal- ties in excess of $130,000 for the same $585 in actual damages.6 The district court held that the imposition of this civil fine would violate the double jeopardy clause.7 The Supreme Court agreed. In United States v. Halper,8 it held that the statutory civil penalty bore no rational relation9 to the actual dam- ages caused by the defendant10 and therefore was so punitive that it amounted to criminal punishment, thus triggering the protection of the double jeopardy clause. 11 The double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment provides that no person shall be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.'2 While the double jeopardy clause originally was inter- I See United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 437 (1989). The statute was codified at 18 U.S.C. § 287 (1982). It was amended by the False Claims Amendments Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-562, § 7, 100 Stat. 3169 (1986) (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 287 (1988)). 2 Halper, 490 U.S. at 437. 3 See id. 4 31 U.S.C. § 3729 (1982). The statute was amended by the False Claims Amendments Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-562, § 2, 100 Stat. 3153 (1986) (codified at 31 U.S.C. § 3729 (1988)). 5 See Halper, 490 U.S. at 438. 6 See id. 7 See United States v. Halper, 660 F. Supp. 531, 533 (S.D.N.Y.), amended, 664 F. Supp. 852 (1987), vacated, 490 U.S. 435 (1989). 8 490 U.S. 435 (1989). Justice Blackmun wrote the opinion for the unanimous Court. Justice Kennedy both joined the opinion of the Court and wrote a concurring opinion. See id. at 452 (Kennedy, J., concurring). 9 Id. at 449. 10 See id. at 452. 11 See id. 12 U.S. Const. amend. V. For the history of the double jeopardy clause, see Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 699 (1980) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting); M. Friedland, Double 112 Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Law Review

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