Supreme Court to decide if home distilling can land you in prison
U.S. Supreme Court to review 1868 federal ban on home distilling of liquor
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review an 1868 federal ban on home distilling, enacted to curb liquor tax evasion and now carrying up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The Trump administration defends the law, while the Hobby Distillers Association and 15 Republican-led states argue Congress overstepped its constitutional authority. A circuit split—the Fifth Circuit struck the ban down, the Sixth upheld it—prompted the case, with arguments and a ruling expected by June.
Our country’s founders would be rolling over in their graves to learn that a pastime in which even George Washington partook, which is as American as apple pie and certainly a lot older, has quite absurdly been turned into a federal crime.