A federal judge in Texas just ruled that the federal ban on home distilling is unconstitutional.
We’ll see. When I first saw this post I assumed that the court was going to rule that the TTB didn’t have rule making power based on this recent term’s overruling of the Chevron Doctrine but I see it is based on taxing power and the Commerce Clause. Those are both tough nuts to crack. And the 5th circuit has been notorious in recent years for rulings that are basically the judge coming to the conclusion they like and “reasoning” from there and have been consistently slapped down by the Supremes.
One thing is now confirmed: distillation equipment vendors have provided the Feds with customer data. Because the Feds sent a threatening letter, the defense demonstrated potential loss. Until now, I considered the information anecdotal.
One day, you’ll wake up and there won’t be anymore time to do the things you’ve always wanted to do. Don’t wait. Do it now.
A few months ago I’d agree that this doesn’t survive on appeal but I wouldn’t be surprised to see SCOTUS take up the opportunity to unwind Wickard. It hits an interesting conflict for the court between the philosophical position and the financial weight of the distilling and distribution industries.
I can definitely picture this SCOTUS making what would be a fairly popular decision to legalize home distilling but with the actual intent and impact of empowering the court to wipe out scores of laws and regulations they don’t agree with via the Commerce Clause.