Chicago: Supreme Court Declines to Hear Car-Seizure Case, as Two Justices Warn of Serious Concerns Over the City's Practice
In Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, a city car-seizure ordinance drew attention at the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 19 the Court declined to hear a constitutional challenge to Chicago's vehicle impoundment ordinance, but two justices issued a joint warning. Under Section 9-100-120 of the Municipal Code, a driver with three unpaid parking tickets, or two unpaid for a year, can have a vehicle booted, towed, impounded and ultimately sold or disposed of, with sale proceeds neither credited against the debt nor any surplus returned. Plaintiff Ryan O'Donnell owed $524.60 in tickets and saw his Toyota sold for $273 in scrap value; plaintiff Michael Goree owed nothing himself, but his Chevrolet was taken and handed to the lienholder because a co-signer on his car loan had about $560 in unpaid tickets on a different vehicle. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld the scheme as a legitimate exercise of the city's police power. The Supreme Court denied review in a brief order, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a five-page statement joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, saying she has serious concerns about the 7th Circuit's conclusion and that deference to state police powers should not eclipse constitutional rights, while agreeing that more lower courts should weigh in first and that this case may not be the right vehicle. Lawyers noted tension with the Court's 2023 ruling that a government selling property for unpaid taxes may not keep surplus funds. The statement cited an estimate that Chicago collects about $264 million a year in ticket revenue, roughly 7% of its operating budget. (GSM, based on Supreme Court docket No. 25-1098 and public reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国最高法院大楼资料图，公有领域（Wikimedia Commons）
