Sending wine across state lines
The constitutional amendment repealing prohibition (the 21st) included a section (Section 2) allowing states to regulate shipments of alcoholic drinks across their borders: "The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited."
On the other hand the Constitution's Commerce Clause, "The Congress shall have Power...To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes...", gives Congress the power to regulate commerce between states.
The tension between the two provisions is currently being addressed by the courts. On March 7, I posted on a federal court case overturning Michigan regulations forbidding direct alcohol shipments from out of state, but not in-state, wineries. The post built on another by Jim Leitzel at Vice Squad. Also see Peter Gallagher's comment to my post, with an Australian's perspective on the apparent protectionist intent of many state regulations.
Stephen Bainbridge, a wine lover, has also been posting (at his blog ProfessorBainbridge), on this. On January 16, he posted with a brief mention of the issue, and a link to a Wine Institute website with legal background (and a state by state survey of restrictive laws and regulations). On January 17, he posted a response to his earlier post by reader Matthew Patterson. Petterson provides helpful background on the legal history of the 21st Amendment's Section 2. Petterson also argues that the way to free up interstate trade in wines is not to use the commerce clause to undercut the "plain meaning" of Section 2, but to work on getting states to change their laws. Today (March 21) Bainbridge points to several on-line Wine Spectator columns on the legal status of the various cases.
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