A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that a longstanding federal prohibition on distilling spirits at home cannot be justified as an exercise of Congress’s taxing power, siding with the Hobby Distillers Association and four of its members.
A U.S. appeals court on Friday ruled unconstitutional a federal ban that has long barred people from distilling beverage spirits at home.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans decided the case in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its members. The group has said it has about 1,300 members and argued that adults should be free to distill spirits at home for personal use, including as a hobby.
The challenged prohibition traces to federal alcohol-tax laws dating to the Reconstruction era. According to Reuters, the ban was enacted in July 1868 in part to combat liquor tax evasion, and violations can carry penalties of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Writing for the three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones said an outright prohibition was not a proper way to use Congress’s power to tax because it prevents the activity entirely, rather than regulating it in a way that would allow the government to collect revenue.
Jones also rejected the government’s broader theory that Congress may criminalize home activity simply because it could otherwise evade taxation, warning that such reasoning could extend far beyond alcohol and reach ordinary in-home work and small businesses. “Without any limiting principle, the government’s theory would violate this court’s obligation to read the Constitution carefully to avoid creating a general federal authority akin to the police power,” Jones wrote.
The U.S. Department of Justice had no immediate comment, Reuters reported. The Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Devin Watkins, a lawyer for the Hobby Distillers Association, called the decision an important check on federal power. Andrew Grossman, who argued the appeal, described it as “an important victory for individual liberty” that would allow the plaintiffs to pursue home distilling.
The appeals court’s decision left in place a July 10, 2024, ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, Texas, which had sided with the plaintiffs and was put on hold while the government appealed.
