Wine and SCOTUS

Okay, I've lost my mind. This is a wine blog and I am writing about the United States Supreme Court. Yes, that Supreme Court, the one that sits in Washington DC, just to the east of the Capitol Building. What's up with that?

I digress, but I promise I'll bring you back. 

So much depends on where you live. But, if you live in one of those wine-isolated states, have you ever tried to get wine shipped to you? Or, have you even ever tried to find deals on wine? It's tough to get things shipped to you. Often, wineries can't get licenses and it might be flat out illegal for out-of-state stores to ship to you. And, in some states, you can only buy at state-controlled prices at state-sanctioned "package goods" stores. What a racket!

Well, some enterprising folks from the lovely, not entirely wine-focused state of Michigan decided to challenge this nonsense (and it is nonsense that somehow wine sales should be regulated at the state level according to the whims of a few big box wine retailers and the powerful distributors and of course the politicians whose pockets one suspects they line). The case was fashioned as Lebamoff v Whitmer. 

Here's the issue and it might resonate with you, particularly if you live in Michigan. You can order wine online from a Michigan retailer. And, that same Michigan retailer can sell to you online even if you don't live in Michigan. But, that Michigan resident who wants wine that they cannot get in Michigan from a Michigan retailer cannot legally get it. 

That's right. You live in Michigan. And, you desperately want that hard-to-find bottle of your favorite wine from the vintage of your birth year. It's going to be a celebration. So, you use this newfangled thing called the internet and you find [insert your favorite relatively small positive integer] wine shops in the US that have it in stock or at least claim they do, but none are in Michigan. 

You go to one of the websites and you go through the order process and all is looking good as you complete your order and you enter the shipping address in Michigan and, Bzzz, Bzzz, Bzzz. No can do. Can't sell to you in Michigan.

Talk about moronic. What's the problem? Are you in the Michigan legislature afraid that if I sell you a bottle of wine from, for example, Arkansas, that you will somehow start to think like a Razorback? Are you afraid that you will lose your teett, come down with a rare disease, or start saying y'all?

So, this case, Lebamoff went through the 6th Circuit and to the United States Supreme Court who surely would fix this problem once and for all. 

Do you know what SCOTUS did?

They refused to grant this case certiorari. That's right; we couldn't get four of those nine Justices to want to hear this case that is so important to the forlorn people of Michigan who just want the ability to get collectible wines. What's the matter, SCOTUS, do none of you drink wine? We know that at least one of them likes beer; he really likes beer. And we know that because he testified to it under oath. But there are eight others. Where were they?

Well, people of Michigan and a relatively small number of other states, you still don't have the access to wine that you would like. During COVID, that's even less fair. SCOTUS has failed us.



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