{"id":47879,"date":"2026-10-30T10:19:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=47879"},"modified":"2026-10-30T10:19:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:19:29","slug":"supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-case-on-home-distilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=47879","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court agrees to hear case on home distilling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good day all. This one is going to be a bit different from my usual fare. The supreme court has agreed to hear a case on a law passed almost a 150 years ago that outlawed home distilling. Before that, people could make their own whiskey in their back yards.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t drink hard liquor. I just don\u2019t care for it. I also know that the only real mention of alcohol in the constitution were the 18th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> amendments. The 18th<\/sup> outlawed beer, wine and spirits, and the 21st<\/sup> repealed it. The law banning home distilling predates the two amendments by decades. Now someone has decided to challenge the law on constitutional grounds. Here are the details from OAN<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a ban on distilling spirits in private homes more than 150 years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plaintiffs challenging the prohibition on home distilling claim the 1868 law is an antiquated relic of Reconstruction-era politics. They argue that Congress overstepped its taxation powers when it enacted the home distilling ban as part of a tax reform measure designed to curb fraud by commercial distillers.<\/b><\/p>\n

The taxes on alcohol are rather extensive. If you buy a bottle of scotch, most of the cost is taxes. In the early days, taxes on spirits, and I don\u2019t mean the ones that go Boo, were a significant part of the federal budget. Back in the day, most farmers had a small still set up to make their own liquor. If they sold any, Uncle Sam wanted it\u2019s cut.<\/p>\n

Government attorneys counter that Congress properly restricted where spirits can be distilled to prevent producers from evading federal excise taxes. They warn that lifting the ban would violate Supreme Court precedent and erode congressional powers.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tax evasion is still a crime. However, if someone is making small amounts for personal use, and not selling any, then there is no tax to collect. Once someone starts selling booze, then the government has a case. This would still be the case.<\/p>\n

Federal law makes home distilling a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if bootlegging is still a thing these days. It used to be and one of the results of it was the formation of NASCAR. You had Moonshiners who made corn liquor and you had the rum-runners who delivered the product and collected the money. This has always been an issue, but rum-running and bootlegging really exploded with Prohibition. After the repeal, you still had areas that were \u201cDry,\u201d meaning no alcohol was allowed. These days, bootlegging is no where near as big as it once was, but it still occurs.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons the Supreme Court took this case was due to a circuit court split. The 6th<\/sup> circuit court of appeals upheld the prohibition and the 5th<\/sup> circuit ruled against it. Now it\u2019s in the hands of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs\u2019 attorney Robert Alt said they are \u201cthrilled\u201d that the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cOur country\u2019s founders would be rolling over in their graves to learn that a pastime in which even George Washington partook, which is as American as apple pie and certainly a lot older, has quite absurdly been turned into a federal crime,\u201d Alt said in a statement.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in both cases argue that Congress could ban a broad array of activities inside private homes \u2014 including cooking, gardening and remote work \u2014 under the government\u2019s interpretation of the 19th century law.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe importance of this case and the questions it presents could hardly be overstated,\u201d the plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers wrote. \u201cIt presents fundamental questions of the extent of federal power and the powers reserved to the states and the people.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Between this and how the Commerce Clause has been abused by government, the entire constitution has been turned on it\u2019s head. What many people, sadly most these days, is the reason for the Constitution and what it was designed to do. It was set up to provide the rules and mechanisms for the government to conduct business. It was also designed to restrict the government. For literally centuries, Washington has been asserting powers they really don\u2019t have. It does appear that the Supreme Court has finally decided that things have gone to far in favor of the Deep State.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Justice Department attorneys said the government\u2019s regulation and taxation on the production of distilled spirits is as old as Congress itself. They noted that Congress outlawed home distilling to prevent those producers from evading taxes or government inspections.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because the location restrictions were enacted only after lengthy experience with tax evasion, upholding those restrictions would not open the door to hypothetical laws restricting other conduct lacking that history,\u201d they wrote.<\/b><\/p>\n

I see the issue that the Supreme Court needs to resolve. Back in 1979, a bill signed into law by Jimmy Carter deregulated the home production of beer and wine. This led people to start working on their own recipes, and some of those turned out to be so popular that the home brewers scaled up production, filed all the appropriate paperwork and started selling to the general public.<\/p>\n

Without question, the government is collecting far more revenue, thanks to the rise of the microbreweries, than they were collecting when people were limited to the major brewers and the horse urine they called beer. There is an excellent chance that history could repeat itself. Now if people sell without paying the taxes, then of course, the government can land on them. While I personally won\u2019t be getting a small still and making my own Bourbon, someone else might and end up with a product that people actually want. Now it\u2019s in the hands of the Supreme Court and their DEI hire. We\u2019ll find out how this goes next year.<\/p>\n

Thatisall<\/p>\n

~The Angry Webmaster~<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good day all. This one is going to be a bit different from my usual fare. The supreme court has agreed to hear a case on a law passed almost a 150 years ago that outlawed home distilling. Before that, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,37,750],"tags":[2287,11,2290,2286,52,2288,17,2285,377,2289,101,1458,57],"class_list":["post-47879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-liberty-politics","category-maga","tag-alcohol","tag-america","tag-bootlegging","tag-booze","tag-constitution","tag-distilling","tag-liberty","tag-liquor","tag-maga","tag-moonshine","tag-news","tag-prohibition","tag-technology"],"views":9,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38688,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=38688","url_meta":{"origin":47879,"position":0},"title":"Judge slaps down New York\u2019s latest anti-2nd Amendment law","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"October 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all The Bruen Decision was meant to put a stop to states like New York that ignored the plain language of the 2nd Amendment. 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Just to refresh your bidenlike memories, last week, the Colorado\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero"","block_context":{"text":"Hero","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=181"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/angry.net\/blog2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/seen-coming-242x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40251,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=40251","url_meta":{"origin":47879,"position":3},"title":"A tale of two judges, One Biden and One Trump on the 2nd Amendment","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"May 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all. Several blue states have decided to nullify the 2nd Amendment. One of these is, to the surprise of no one, Illinois. The Democrats recently passed and the fat tyrannical slob of a governor signed, a law that bans the ownership of a large number of firearms. 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In it he laid out a plan to amend the constitution using the Article V process to bypass congress.","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stock Photo of the Consitution of the United States and Feather Quill","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/angry.net\/blog2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/constitution-300x198.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47879"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47882,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47879\/revisions\/47882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}