The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Nelson v. Colorado that “[p]eople who are freed from prison when their convictions are reversed deserve a refund of what they paid in fees, court costs and restitution,” wrote David Savage for the Los Angeles Times.

The case was brought by two people “who were convicted of sex crimes but had their convictions reversed.” After the reversals, “the state insisted on keeping the restitution they had paid.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who authored the majority opinion, wrote that they “are entitled to be presumed innocent” and that the state “has zero claim” to their money. She added that “Colorado may not presume a person, adjudged guilty of no crime, nonetheless guilty enough for monetary extractions.” Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the ruling, writing that “petitioners have not demonstrated that the defendants whose convictions have been reversed possess a substantive entitlement, under either state law or the Constitution, to recover money they paid to the state pursuant to their convictions.” Justice Samuel Alito, who filed a separate concurrence, wrote that while he agreed with the outcome, it was “unnecessary for the court to issue a sweeping pronouncement on restitution.”