Congress’ Power and Home Distilling Ruling
A federal prohibition on home distilling—established in a Reconstruction-era law intended to crack down on tax-evading moonshiners—is shaping up as a major legal test of Congress’s tax authority, legal scholars tell James Matheson.
A Sixth Circuit panel Tuesday held that a federal ban enacted in 1868 is an allowable use of congressional taxing power under the Commerce Clause. The ruling came 11 days after the New Orleans-based US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the ban is unconstitutional, establishing a contentious circuit split.
Victoria ...