Austin v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 20, 1993 Decided June 28, 1993
Full case name	Austin v. United States
Docket nos.	92-6073
Citations	509 U.S. 602 (more) 113 S. Ct. 2801; 125 L. Ed. 2d 488
Prior history	United States v. One Parcel of Prop. Located at 508 Depot St., 964 F.2d 814 (8th Cir. 1992); cert. granted, 506 U.S. 1074 (1993).
Holding
Forfeiture under §§881(a)(4) and (a)(7) is a monetary punishment and, as such, is subject to the limitations of the Excessive Fines Clause.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	Blackmun, joined by White, Stevens, O’Connor, Souter
Concurrence	Scalia
Concurrence	Kennedy, joined by Rehnquist, Thomas

Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 (1993), was an Supreme Court case in 1993 where the Supreme Court decided that the Eighth Amendment includes the government seizing property as punishment.

Richard Lyle Austin was accused of violating the drug laws of South Dakota. He admitted to having cocaine and wanting to give it to others. The United States told him to turn over his car shop. Austin said that the government doing that was a violation of the part of the 8th Amendment that says fines can't be too much. Austin won the case.