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Posted on 04/10/2026 4:29:13 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members.
They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe.
The ban was part of a law passed during Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones said the ban actually reduced tax revenue by preventing distilling in the first place, unlike laws that regulated the manufacture and labeling of distilled spirits on which the government could collect taxes.
She also said that under the government's logic, Congress could criminalize virtually any in-home activity that might escape notice from tax collectors, including remote work and home-based businesses.
"Without any limiting principle, the government’s theory would violate this court’s obligation to read the Constitution carefully to avoid creating a general federal authority akin to the police power," Jones wrote.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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Yay! Not that I’m doing any home-distilling. But it’s nice to see government powers limited for a change.
I always thought this prohibition was BS.
Now we can make our own moonshine and hashish at home and you can buy corn mash with food stamps.
158 years for justice....
The late Popcorn Sutton would be pleased!
Are there that many private homeowners still making their own liquor? Beer, made privately and small scale, I could see that happening.
The problem with home distilling isn’t so much the distilling as it is the aging. Not everyone’s wife wants a rack of whisky barrels in the living room for 5-15 years.
Given the supreme court’s promiscuous application of the taxing power to virtually anything, I can’t imagine this will stand, if the supreme court grants cert.
Well there goes Nascar.
The property I was raised on in N Ga had three abandoned still sites - one had ax holes in the remaining metal. Also had some radiators laying around which was a little disconcerting.
The real problem with home distilling is the risk of fire and explosion from pure ethanol fumes.
So Jimmy cracked corn, and they don’t care…
Making hash at home had nothing to do with distilling. It is more “sifting and pressing.”
So, a free country actually includes the people being free? That is radical.
But what if I don’t live in a 158 year old home?
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