Ellingburg v. United States · ¶62

Sovereigns sometimes delegated enforcement of public wrongs to private persons. But, unlike in actions redressing private wrongs, the private persons in those circumstances acted “on behalf of the sovereign” and were subject to the sovereign’s control. Robertson v. United States ex rel. Watson, 560 U. S. 272, 279 (2010) (ROBERTS, C. J., dissenting); see ibid. (collecting authorities). one were to commit a minor traffic offense at a time the offense was to be punished by a $25 fine, and the government were to then amend the statute and impose a fine of $1,000,000 dollars, it would be nonsensical to treat that fine as non-punitive simply because the offense was processed civilly.” Brief for Professor Beth Colgan as Amicus Curiae 8, n. 3. Because all of these offenses impose punishments for public wrongs, Calder would treat them all as subject to the Ex Post Facto Clauses.

slip opinion
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.