zeugma wrote:
It is worth noting that if she had shoplifted the equivalent number of CDs in Minnesota, it would be considered a misdemeanor offense and she would owe a maximum of $1000 dollars in fines...

The eighth amendment states:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Apparently the only case in which excessive fines were considered was U.S. v. Bajakajian.

Here, Clarence Thomas wrote:

“Comparing the gravity of respondent’s crime with the $357,144 forfeiture the Government seeks, we conclude that such a forfeiture would be grossly disproportional to the gravity of his offense. It is larger than the $5,000 fine imposed by the District Court by many orders of magnitude, and it bears no articulable correlation to any injury suffered by the Government. … For the foregoing reasons, the full forfeiture of respondent’s currency would violate the Excessive Fines Clause.”

That sort of reasoning seems like it applies here.

The EFF is already raising this point in the press:

“The disproportionate size of the verdict raises constitutional questions,” said Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer with the consumer group Electronic Frontier Foundation.

I think a Supreme Court decision invalidating the law that imposes these fines would go a long way toward restoring my faith in the ability of our country to make reasonable policy.

Lets see a Consitutional Challenge