John He (’20), Current Fellow with the Debtors’ Prison Project at the Public Justice Foundation, published a piece for Public Justice regarding his organization’s amicus brief filed in City of Seattle v. Long, pending before the Washington Supreme Court, on behalf of a homeless man who was charged over $500 for a parking infraction (“$500 Fine Imposed On Homeless Man Shows Why We Need The Excessive Fines Clause,” Feb. 16). “[O]n a cold and rainy Seattle night, [Steven Long] returned from work to find that the truck he was living in had been towed for violating a city ordinance that prohibited parking on public property for longer than seventy-two hours. Although Steven explained that he was homeless and had only $50 to his name, a Seattle court required that he agree to pay over $500 to recover his truck; otherwise, the City would auction it off. With the truck—his only shelter—hanging in the balance, Steven agreed to an onerous, yearlong payment plan to pay off his debt. . . . Requiring a person in this circumstance to pay an over $500 fine serves no clear penological purpose; it’s nonsensical. The Washington Supreme Court should reject the lower court’s toothless standard and instead require courts to engage in meaningful analysis of an individual’s circumstances when imposing a fine.”