BREAKING NEWS! Today, the Supreme Court decided not to examine the case brought by a group of wine retailers asking to review the case of Wine Country Gift Baskets v. Steen decided by the Fifth Circuit. The justices announced today that they will not give further consideration to whether the Texas law is too restrictive with respect to direct shipment. Wine retailer petitioners believe the Texas law, which allows in-state retailers to directly ship wine to consumers but prohibits direct shipment by out-of-state retailers, discriminated against out-of-state retailers and subsequently violated the Commerce Clause. The Specialty Wine Retailers that petitioned to SCOTUS argued that the Fifth Circuit incorrectly interpreted the 2005 SCOTUS case Granholm v. Heald, which held that a state may not discriminate against out-of-state wine producers with respect to its direct shipment laws. The Fifth Circuit, from which the wine retailers appealed, interpreted the Granholm decision to allow discrimination against interstate wine retailers.
Limited information is available at this time with respect to the recent decision of the justices. The justices did not explain why they refused to consider the appeal by the retailers. When more information is available, additional entries will be posted by On Reserve. (See Supreme Court Justices Beg Off From Hearing Texas Wine Case.)
If you have additional information on this matter, please contact me at lazahn@winelawonreserve.com.
DISCLAIMER: This blog post is not intended as legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship results. Please consult your own attorney for legal advice.
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