The Wall Street Journal reported this week on a major milestone Supreme Court decision, that will ripple through many other industries. They struck down limits in state laws barring direct sales of wine across state lines to consumers.
“Wine is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to protectionist laws and regulations in this country,” said Robert Atkinson, of a Centrist think tank in Washington. He cited cars and real estate areas where e-commerce is tipped in favor of the industries.
“States man not enact laws that burden out-of-state producers or shippers simply to give an advantage to in-state businesses,” wrote Justice Kennedy. But the old man on the court, 85-year-old Justice Stevens, dissented. He said just because many of today’s younger Americans who make policy decisions think of alcohol as an ‘ordinary item of commerce’ but that was not always the view of those who condemned ‘demon rum’ and voted in prohibition.”
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