It’s “Hello World” for Michigan wine drinkers

Barrel room at Merryvale by star5112

Tom Wark’s Fermentation wine blog says:

Michigan Consumers should be smiling. A Federal District Court Judge in that state ruled on Tuesday that the state’s law that bars consumers from buying and having wine shipped to them from out-of-state retailers violated the U.S. Constitution and enjoined the State from enforcing laws that prevent such shipments.

The decision was a forceful one. Judge Donna Hood made no bones about it:

“the State’s argument that the Twenty First Amendment gives it the authority to regulate alcohol coming into the state and that the three-tier system it has designed for regulatory purposes is appropriate is flawed. While the Heald court did state that the three-tier system was an appropriate use of state power, it did not approve of a system that discriminates against out-of-state interests. The Supreme Court made clear in Heald that a state’s power under the Twenty First Amendment is not above the Commerce Clause nondiscrimination requirement.”

Read the rest of A Forceful Voice for Consumers. Also see NEWS: Judge Orders OK to Shipping by Out-of-State Retailers from MichWine …and say hello to to the wineries of California, New York, Washington, Texas, North Carolina and so on!