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Lift a glass of the bubbly -- Californian, not French -- to the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday struck down state laws barring out-of-state wineries from shipping directly to consumers. Such laws "discriminate against interstate commerce," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the 5-4 majority. States have "broad powers" to regulate liquor, but if they permit shipping by in-state wine makers, then under the Constitution's Commerce Clause they can't discriminate against producers in the other 49 states. The ruling is a victory on many fronts, starting with wine lovers, who will now have access to greater variety at potentially lower costs....

WASHINGTON -- Michigan wine lovers hoping a newly issued U.S. Supreme Court ruling might open the door to wine purchases from out-of-state vineyards shouldn't uncork their enthusiasm quite yet. In reaction to Monday's court decision, Michigan Liquor Control Commission Chairwoman Nida Samona said she'll ask state lawmakers to ban all in-state as well as out-of-state shipments of wine. "There shouldn't be any shipment of wine or any other alcohol product through the Internet, the mail or any other form," Samona said. "It should be purchased directly, face-to-face." In a 5-4 ruling, the justices overturned Michigan's ban on out-of-state shipments of...

WASHINGTON - Wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, striking down laws banning a practice that has flourished because of the Internet and growing popularity of winery tours. The 5-4 decision overturns laws in New York and Michigan that make it a crime to buy wine directly from vineyards in another state. In all, 24 states have laws that bar interstate shipments. The state bans are discriminatory and anti-competitive, the court said. "States have broad power to regulate liquor," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. "This power, however, does not allow states to...

WASHINGTON - Wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, striking down laws banning a practice that has flourished because of the Internet and growing popularity of winery tours. The 5-4 decision strikes down laws in New York and Michigan that make it a crime to buy wine directly from vineyards in another state. In all, 24 states have laws that bar interstate shipments. The state bans are discriminatory and anti-competitive, the court said. "States have broad power to regulate liquor," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. "This power, however, does not allow states...

Politicians are always looking for a new goose to pluck to win the political favor of their constituents. Today everyone from congressmen to city councilmen treat the drugmakers like a flock of geese. At least Congress has national jurisdiction. Not so the Washington, D.C. city council. But its members apparently believe that they, too, should regulate the pharmaceutical industry. The city council has given preliminary approval to legislation that would create a new "illegal trade practice" -- selling drugs for more than city politicians decide is fair. The bill would allow Washington, D.C. to seize the companies' patent rights in...

US Supreme Court justices could soon rule on a topic that wine lovers across the country will care about -- the direct sale of wine to consumers. It's still illegal in some states to order wine online. Meanwhile, in a California warehouse, wine is packed up and shipped directly to consumers who are either in wine clubs or order bottles online. But it can only be shipped to states that allow direct wine sales. In Pennsylvania, wine can be ordered online but must be delivered to a state liquor store in order for the transaction to be legal. The state...

California wineries shipped a record 428 million gallons of wine to U.S. customers in 2004, a 3 percent increase over the previous year, according to wine industry consultant Jon Fredrikson of Woodside in the Gomberg-Fredrikson Report released Tuesday by the Wine Institute, the industry's lobbying group.The retail value of California wine shipped to the United States was $15 billion last year, the institute said. California winery shipments to all markets both at home in the United States and abroad reached 522 million gallons in 2004 for a 6 percent increase."It's been a good year for many California producers," said Robert...

The McDonald's restaurant in Hermiston, Oregon appears to be "outsaucing" customers drive-thru meals. The restaurant on Highway 395 has outsourced one of the most important jobs at the drive-through window -- order taking. When a customer drives through, they'll be patched through to Grand Forks, North Dakota to place the order. Why? Because the minimum wage in North Dakota is $5.15, compared to Oregon's $7.25. Tim Nesbit is head of Oregon AFLCIO. He says this undercuts Oregon's minimum wage by more than $2 an hour. A McDonald's media relations person in Illinois, where the corporate headquarters is based, never returned...

All’s fair in love and war, but not in Washington’s liquor monopoly. The state’s Liquor Control Board (LCB) is running into problems again, this time with the nation’s largest membership warehouse chain, Costco. Issaquah-based Costco has filed a lawsuit to do away with Washington’s antiquated law that prohibits the company from purchasing alcoholic beverages from out-of-state distributors. Costco believes the LCB regulations violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the federal Sherman Antitrust Act. The state’s monopolistic liquor laws also violate a sense of basic market fairness. Currently, Washington does not allow companies to buy liquor from out...

As silly as it may be in this age of Internet commerce, 24 states ban direct shipment of wine by out-of-state wineries. Three actually consider it a felony. Pursuant to a case the Supreme Court heard on Tuesday, it must decide if these state bans on direct-shipment of wine — wine that is shipped directly from the vineyard to the consumer — is constitutional. The case itself delves into a nasty tangle of constitutional intrepretation that should not be dismissed solely as a question of right vs. wrong. Not surprisingly, for oenophiles and free traders, the case is quite simple:...

Supremes evaluate Internet booze shopping By Thomas C Greene Published Wednesday 8th December 2004 23:35 GMT The US Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether or not consumers should be permitted to shop for wine via the Internet and have it delivered directly to their doors. Hundreds of millions of dollars in state taxes and distributors' commissions are at stake, so the notion is being fought vigorously by states and industry lobbyists.There are two apparently contradictory passages in the US Constitution that the Supremes will have to reconcile. One is the Twenty-First Amendment, which says that:   "The transportation or...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 - If the Supreme Court argument Tuesday on interstate wine sales proves to be a reliable roadmap to the eventual decision, consumers who want to order wine directly from out-of-state wineries will soon be able to do so with the court's blessing. The justices appeared notably unmoved by the arguments offered by New York and Michigan in defense of laws that prohibit the direct shipment of wine from other states while permitting in-state wineries to ship their products to their customers' homes. The 50 states are divided almost in half on a question that has grown increasingly...

WASHINGTON - When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, state governments were granted an extraordinary power - the authority to ban alcohol within their borders. It is a power that no state, acting alone, had possessed under the US Constitution until passage of the 21st Amendment. Now, more than 70 years later, that authority is at the center of a US Supreme Court battle that could change the face of the liquor industry, opening the door for widespread direct-to-customer sales over the Internet. At issue is the scope of state power to regulate alcohol. Tuesday, the high court takes up three...

On Tuesday, this battle comes to a head when the U.S. Supreme Court hears two cases involving states that ban direct shipments of wine. Advocates on both sides paint the dispute as an epic struggle over states' rights, free markets, cultural values and underage drinking. The Supreme Court will hear appeals of both cases as it weighs two seemingly competing parts of the U.S. Constitution. The so-called ``commerce clause´´ in Article I grants Congress the authority ``to regulate commerce. . . among the several states.´´ But the 21st Amendment, ratified in 1933, repealed the nationwide prohibition on alcohol and gave...

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a case that's getting more complex than an aged cabernet, attorneys are asking the Supreme Court to consider whether states can continue to ban direct shipments of alcohol from out-of-state vineyards. On Monday, the Washington-based Institute for Justice asked the Supreme Court to consider overturning a ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which recently upheld New York's ban on direct shipments of alcohol to individual consumers. The institute is representing a small Virginia winery that wants to sell wine to out-of-state buyers. The request came days after 36 state attorneys general filed a...