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Michael Pung, Personal Representative of the Estate of Timothy Scott Pung v. Isabella County, Michigan
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 22-1919, 22-1939 · judgment January 28, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
Isabella County confiscated the Pung Estate's private home for approximately $2,200 in taxes and fees (that were never actually owed). The lower courts used the artificially depressed auction sale price rather than the property's fair market value as the starting point for its damages calculation. The Sixth Circuit and others have held that the "fair market value" taken is not what is owed to begin to fulfill the constitutional compensatory obligation imposed by the Fifth Amendment. That defies this Court's precedents. And if it is not taken within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment, it is otherwise an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment by imposing a punishment by pilfering far more than ever needed to satisfy a small debt. The questions presented are:
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Whether taking and selling a home to satisfy a debt to the government, and keeping the surplus value as a windfall, violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment when the compensation is based on the artificially depressed auction sale price rather than the property's fair market value?
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Whether the forfeiture of real property worth far more than needed to satisfy a tax debt but sold for fraction of its real value constitutes an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment, particularly when the debt was never actually owed?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Philip Lee Ellison
Outside Legal Counsel PLC
For respondent
Matthew T. Nelson
Warner Norcross + Judd LLP
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Amicus briefs
27 merits
(19 supporting pet./neither, 8 respondent)
Linked docket
24A1102
Argument & decision
Argued February 25, 2026 — Philip L. Ellison · Frederick Liu · Matthew T. Nelson. Audio and transcript
Decided June 23, 2026. Opinion by Alito.
Proceedings
- Jul 27 2026Judgment Issued.
- Jun 23 2026Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Jackson, JJ., joined, and in which Thomas, J., joined except as to Part II–B. Sotomayor, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Gorsuch and Jackson, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Gorsuch, J., joined except as to n. 1.
- Feb 25 2026Argued. For petitioner: Philip L. Ellison, Hemlock, Mich. For United States, as amicus curiae: Frederick Liu, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondent: Matthew T. Nelson, Grand Rapids, Mich.
- Feb 10 2026Reply of petitioner Michael Pung filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 26 2026Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.
- Jan 21 2026CIRCULATED
- Jan 20 2026Brief amici curiae of Michigan, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 20 2026Brief amicus curiae of Wisconsin Counties Association filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 20 2026Brief amicus curiae of National Tax Lien Association filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 20 2026Brief amici curiae of Hennepin County, Minnesota, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 20 2026Brief amici curiae of Local Government Legal Center, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 16 2026Amicus brief of New York Association of Towns not accepted for filing. (To be corrected - January 21, 2026)
- Jan 16 2026Brief amici curiae of New York Association of Towns, et al. filed. (Corrected) (Distributed)
- Jan 15 2026Brief amici curiae of Michigan Association of Counties, et al. filed.
- Jan 15 2026Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
- Jan 14 2026Amicus brief of Oakland County not accepted for filing. (To be corrected - January 15, 2026)
- Jan 14 2026Brief amicus curiae of Oakland County, Michigan filed. (Corrected)
- Jan 12 2026Brief of respondent Isabella County, Michigan filed.
- Jan 09 2026Record received from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The record is electronic and is available on PACER.
- Jan 06 2026Record requested from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
- Jan 02 2026SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, February 25, 2026.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of AARP, et al. filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of Chamber of Commerce of the United States filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amici curiae of The Buckeye Institute, et al. filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amici curiae of Maryland Legal Aid, et al. filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of Institute for Justice filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of National Taxpayers Union Foundation filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of Constitutional Accountability Center filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amici curiae of New Disabled South, et al. filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of United States in support of neither party filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amici curiae of National Association of Realtors®, et al. filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of Legal Services of New Jersey filed.
- Dec 08 2025Amici brief of Citizen Action Defense Fund, et al. not accepted for filing. (To be corrected - December 11, 2025)
- Dec 08 2025Brief amici curiae of Citizen Action Defense Fund, et al. filed. (Corrected)
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of National Consumer Law Center filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of Pioneer New England Legal Foundation filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amici curiae of Cato Institute, et al. filed.
- Dec 08 2025Brief amici curiae of Cyrus Sanai, et al. filed.
- Dec 05 2025Brief amicus curiae of Professor Beth A. Colgan filed.
- Dec 01 2025Brief of petitioner Michael Pung filed.
- Dec 01 2025Joint appendix filed.
- Nov 21 2025Brief amicus curiae of Joseph Donald Bourgeois filed.
- Nov 05 2025Motion to extend the time to file the briefs on the merits granted. The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including December 1, 2025. The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including January 12, 2026.
- Oct 23 2025Motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
- Oct 22 2025Motion for an extension of time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits submitted.
- Oct 03 2025Petition GRANTED.
- Sep 12 2025Reply of petitioner Michael Pung filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 27 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
- Aug 13 2025Brief of respondent Isabella County, Michigan in opposition filed.
- Jul 22 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 25, 2025)
- May 16 2025Application (24A1102) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until July 25, 2025.
- May 13 2025Application (24A1102) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from May 27, 2025 to July 25, 2025, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.