Supreme Court To Decide Legality of Civil War-Era Ban on Home Distilleries

The legality of homemade hooch is headed to the Supreme Court.The justices, on Monday, agreed to hear a challenge to a federal prohibition on home distilling of alcoholic spirits that has been in place since 1868. The ban was enacted after the Civil War to crack down on rampant liquor tax evasion.Four distilling fans and the Hobby Distillers Association, an organization that advocates for at-home hobby distilling, filed a lawsuit claiming the prohibition is unconstitutional and exceeds Congressional authority.“For me personally, seeing a case that we helped bring reach this stage is a significant moment,” Hobby Distillers Association founder and plaintiff in the case, Rick Morris, said in a video reacting to the announcement. “But agreeing to review a case is the beginning of the Supreme Court process, not the finish line,” Mr. Morris added.The Buckeye Institute is representing the home distillers in Department of Justice v. McNutt. “Our country’s founders would be rolling over in their graves to learn that a pastime in which even George Washington partook, which is as American as apple pie and certainly a lot older, has quite absurdly been turned into a federal crime,” the institute’s president and chief executive officer, Robert Alt, said.The Buckeye Institute says there is more at stake in the case than just home distilling. It argues that if Congress can prohibit distilling, nothing could stop it from banning bread baking, sewing, or vegetable gardening at home.“This case is important not only for would-be home distillers, but for everyone concerned about the legitimate constitutional limits on the federal government’s authority,” the institute’s senior legal fellow, Andrew M. Grossman, said.“We hope all Americans join us in raising a glass of home-distilled spirits in celebration after the U.S. Supreme Court rules in this David v. Goliath battle for freedom,” Mr. Grossman added.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of the home distillers, stating that location restrictions for distilling reduce otherwise-taxable conduct and are not necessary and proper in carrying out Congress’s taxing power. Days later, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the law in another case, Ream v. Department of the Treasury.The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court stating the two decisions cannot be reconciled.“Congress restricted home distilling because a distiller can more easily conceal a distilling operation or thwart necessary inspections — thereby evading the requisite tax — if the still is located in a dwelling-house or connected structure,” Solicitor General John Sauer argued in a filing to the Supreme Court.The case has created a split between the Trump administration and some states that have passed state laws allowing home distilling. The attorneys general from 15 Republican-led states filed a brief asking the justices to resolve the differing rulings at the appeals court level. “Unlike a good whiskey, this split will not age well,” the attorneys general wrote.The libertarian Cato Institute is also arguing in favor of home distilling saying there is a long tradition of the practice dating back to colonial times and the ban is an overreach. “The government argues that when a taxable event occurs in a home and when monitoring that event is difficult for the government, it has the equivalent of a generalized police power to regulate and prohibit that taxable event,” the organization said in a court brief.“Whether citizens should be able to distill spirits in the privacy of their own homes is a health, safety, and moral question reserved for the states to govern with their police powers,” the brief continued.This is the second alcohol-related case the high court has agreed to hear this term. The justices are already scheduled to hear a case involving an Alaska bush pilot who has been on a years-long quest to block the forfeiture of his plane over a six-pack of beer.The Supreme Court has not set a date to hear oral arguments in the distilling case but they are expected to take place early next year with a final decision in the case expected to come by late June or early July.

Supreme Court To Decide Legality of Civil War-Era Ban on Home Distilleries

Supreme Court To Decide Legality of Civil War-Era Ban on Home Distilleries

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