Overview
- The Fifth Circuit in New Orleans ruled Friday that an 1868 law criminalizing home distilling is unconstitutional under Congress’s taxing power and not justified by the Necessary and Proper Clause.
- Judge Edith Hollan Jones wrote the panel opinion, which said a ban that stops spirits from being produced cannot raise revenue and risks granting Congress a general police power inside the home.
- The ruling affirms U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman’s July 2024 decision in Fort Worth, which he put on hold to allow an appeal.
- The Justice Department and the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau offered no immediate comment, and the government has 90 days to seek Supreme Court review.
- The decision does not legalize home distilling nationwide, since state laws and federal permitting rules still apply and the court left Commerce Clause arguments unresolved, with related litigation also pending in another circuit.