Ellingburg v. United States · ¶66

This understanding of Calder also simplifes the law. Rather than making the Ex Post Facto Clauses' application depend on twelve factors with indeterminate weights, this understanding makes it depend on a simple legal inquiry with a long pedigree in our legal tradition—whether the law imposes a coercive penalty to redress a public wrong. See, e. g., Pelican Ins. Co., 127 U. S., at 299; Robertson, 560 U. S., at 278–279 (Roberts, C. J., dissenting). In most cases, that inquiry will just come down to who enforces the law, the sovereign or the injured private party.

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