My Photo

JUJITSUI-GENERIS MERCHANDISE

Blog powered by TypePad

« A Step Closer To Legitimacy | Main | Another One For The X File »

May 18, 2005

Let's Celebrate With A Case of Out of State Wine

Huzzah for the Institute for Justice for challenging yet another state sponsored protection scheme.  The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it is unconstitutional for a state (in this case, New York and Michigan) to allow in-state wineries to ship directly to customers while prohibiting out of state wineries from shipping their product directly to the consumer.  States, like New York, - citing their right to regulate alcohol sales - have required wineries to sell only to in-state wholesalers, claiming that states have an interest in regulating alcohol sales.

States do have an interest in regulating alcohol sales - money.  States are loathe to forfeit the millions in extra tax revenue they earn by regulating the alcohol trade.  Additionally, native wineries (no matter how low quality their product) benefit from the state's protectionist restrictions.  So how will states respond to the Supreme Court's ruling?  They may decide to scrap the restrictions altogether and allow all wineries equal access to the citizens.  On the other hand, they may decide instead to restrict the sell of any alcohol and prohibit all wineries - in or out of state - from shipping to any state resident - giving the state complete control over the sale and distribution of alcohol.  But kudos to the Institute for Justice and to Juanita Swedenburg for taking on the state of New York and fighting for unfettered competition.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83457748b69e200d83511274453ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Let's Celebrate With A Case of Out of State Wine:

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment