Archive for the ‘Byrd v Tennessee’ Category
Fourteen years ago one thing was clear to everyone concerned after the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Granholm v Heald: States that allowed their own wineries to ship wine direct to consumers but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same had to erase that discriminatory treatment. There was little talk or concern then as to whether or not states needed to address discrimination in retailer DTC shipments. In June 2019 when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Tennessee…
When you read or hear a group or person issue forth with a non-sequitur, the first thing you ought to ask is, why are they not addressing the point or the issue. Emma Balter writing for the Wine Spectator has done a really great job of covering the process and implications of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Tennessee Wine v Thomas—the ruling that declared states may not abuse their 21st Amendment powers to discriminate against out-of-state retailers. In her…
In a move representing extraordinary optimism, the state of Michigan yesterday announced it would appeal a Federal District Court decision from last fall that ruled unconstitutional that state’s ban on wine shipments from out-of-state retailers. The case, Lebamoff v Snyder, is being appealed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. This is the same Federal Appeals Court that ruled Tennessee’s residency requirement unconstitutional based on the holding that the 2005 Granholm Supreme Court decision barring states from passing laws that…
What’s absolutely clear from Wednesday’s Tennessee Wine v. Thomas Supreme Court decision is that the case was clearly originally taken by the Court for one reason and one reason only: To state clearly that the 2005 Granholm v Heald Supreme Court decision with its non-discrimination and anti-protectionism principles that altered the direct shipping landscape applies equally to retailers as it does to wineries. One wonders how long the Court has been waiting for a case to make this point. As…
Since the 2005 Granholm v Heald Supreme Court ruling that deemed it unconstitutional for a state to allow direct to consumer wine shipments from in-state shippers but not from out-of-state wine shippers, numerous subsequent court cases have challenged state laws that impact the direct shipment of wine to consumers. Many of these cases have challenged laws that remain on the books that allow in-state retailers to ship wine to consumers in those state but prohibit out-of-state wine retailers do to…
