The Supreme Court agreed on Oct. 19 to review the constitutionality of a federal law that bans home distilling of alcoholic spirits that was enacted after the Civil War to crack down on liquor tax evasion.
Although the Trump administration is defending the ban, more than a dozen Republican-led states are supporting the effort to strike it down. Challengers argue that Congress does not have authority under the Constitution to forbid home distilling.
The court’s decision took the form of an unsigned order in Department of Justice v. McNutt. The court did not explain its decision. No justices dissented.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in April that the ban was unconstitutional because it was an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax….