I'll Drink To That!!!!
The US Supreme Court ruled today that States cannot discriminate against one another in passing laws regarding direct wine shipments. At odds were the powers granted to the States when the 21st Amendment was passed at the end of prohibition and other constitutional provsions prohibiting the States from discrimination (the details of which haven't been reported in what I have seen).
I figured this would be a close case, and 5-4 is that, but there was also an interesting split between the Justices, with Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsberg, and Breyer in the majority and Thomas, Renquist, Stevens and O'Connor siding with the discriminating states.
As a Californian, I salute the decision. It will now allow small California wineries to compete in a broader market and ship directly to states that previously only allowed direct shipments intrastate of their own wines (or ban ALL direct shipments of wine). This is a victory for consumers over the middlemen. Common sense has come to the marketplace.
I figured this would be a close case, and 5-4 is that, but there was also an interesting split between the Justices, with Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsberg, and Breyer in the majority and Thomas, Renquist, Stevens and O'Connor siding with the discriminating states.
As a Californian, I salute the decision. It will now allow small California wineries to compete in a broader market and ship directly to states that previously only allowed direct shipments intrastate of their own wines (or ban ALL direct shipments of wine). This is a victory for consumers over the middlemen. Common sense has come to the marketplace.
posted by stewdog | 9:43 AM | Permalink
|
1 comments
1 Comments:
Haven't read the decision but my guess is that the Constitutional provision having the impact here is the Commerce Clause. States cannot burden interstate commerce by discriminating against out-of-state competitors.
The Commerce Clause would prevent a state from doing so unless it is either a market participant in the product or has the consent of Congress.
Post a Comment
<< Home