On Thursday, September 27, 2018, the Supreme Court granted cert to a new case involving Granholm-like issues for the alcohol beverage wholesale and retail tiers. See Certiorari Granted. The case, Tennessee Wine and Spirits vs. Byrd Clayton, stems from a Tennessee law which requires in-state retail license applicants to satisfy residency requirements. The law…
Category: Supreme Court Opinions
Eighth Circuit Affirms Decision Against Southern Wine & Spirits Allowing Discrimination Against Out-of-State Wholesalers
In September, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided a case with respect to wholesale licensing in the state of Missouri. Southern Wine and Spirits of America, Inc. (“SWSA”), the plaintiff-appellant, appealed from a lower court decision. The plaintiff-appellant, a foreign alcohol wholesaler, applied for a license to…
Revisited: Granholm v. Heald and the Wine Industry
This blog entry was originally posted on August 7, 2010, five years after the Supreme Court decided a major case impacting the wine industry. The decision Granholm v. Heald remains important to the wine industry and provides great context for the types of legal issues the American wine industry faces on a…
Defining the Limits of Intoxicating Beverages for Non-Beverage Purposes: Prohibition’s Dumbra v. United States
As lovers of wine and the law, we all know about the renowned 2005 Supreme Court case Granholm v. Heald, as well as several recent wine lawsuits from the early and mid-2000s involving our precious beverage. In the upcoming weeks, On Reserve seeks to focus on additional cases that shaped…
Breaking News: SCOTUS Decides Not to Hear Wine Retailers Case
BREAKING NEWS! Today, the Supreme Court decided not to examine the case brought by a group of wine retailers asking to review the case of Wine Country Gift Baskets v. Steen decided by the Fifth Circuit. The justices announced today that they will not give further consideration to whether the Texas…
Wine Retailers Appeal to SCOTUS for Review of Constitutional Issues
Happy Holidays from On Reserve! This is quite a belated post, but a legal one nonetheless, that we felt to be incredibly exciting and interesting for both the wine and legal industries. About a month ago, a group of wine retailers petitioned to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari…
The Wrath of Blue (Laws)
The topic of this article was prompted by the suggestion of Joy Alessandra Kull ’09, a colleague of mine from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration who is professionally involved with the wine industry. Historical Context of Early Alcoholic Beverage Regulation One of the most captivating aspects of wine…
The Alcohol Beverage Legal Environment Post-Granholm
This article gives rise by suggestion of Tom Wark of Fermentation. It explores the legal environment, post-Granholm, relative to the constitutionality of the several state liquor regulatory laws and the underlying effect of the Supreme Court’s holding in Granholm. These three cases include Siesta Village Market LLC v. Steen, 595…
Granholm v. Heald and the Wine Industry
General Information on Granholm In the 2005 opinion of Granholm v. Heald, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5–4 decision that state laws allowing in-state wineries to make direct sales to customers but effectively authorizing out-of-state wineries to make sales only through wholesalers at a greater expense are unconstitutional. The…