United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Indianapolis Brewing Co. v. Liquor Control Comm'n, 305 U.S. 391 (1939)

Indianapolis Brewing Co. v. Liquor Control Commission

No. 130

Argued December 7, 1938

Decided January 3, 1939

305 U.S. 391

Syllabus

1. Since the Twenty-First Amendment, the right of a State to prohibit or regulate the importation of intoxicating liquor is not limited by the commerce clause. P. 305 U. S. 394.

2. Regulation discriminatory between domestic and imported intoxicating liquors, or between imported intoxicating liquors, is not prohibited by the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 305 U. S. 394.

3. A statute of Michigan prohibits dealers in beer in that State from selling any beer manufactured in a State which, by its laws, discriminates in manner described against beer manufactured in Michigan. Pursuant to the statute, the state Liquor Control Commission designated specifically other States, ten in number, including Indiana, which discriminated against Michigan beer, whereupon Michigan licensees were prohibited from purchasing, receiving, possessing, or selling any beer manufactured in those States. Held, as applied to an Indiana manufacturer of beer who sought to restrain the enforcement of the Michigan statute, it was not void as violating the commerce, due process, or equal protection clauses of the Federal Constitution. Pp. 305 U. S. 392, 305 U. S. 394.

It is unnecessary to consider whether the statute is retaliatory or protective in character; it is valid in either aspect.

4. The power of the State to forbid the sale of intoxicating liquor is undoubted. P. 305 U. S. 394.

21 F.Supp. 969 affirmed.

Appeal from a decree of a District Court of three judges denying a temporary injunction and dismissing the bill in a suit to enjoin the enforcement of a state liquor law alleged to be "retaliatory" and unconstitutional.

Page 305 U. S. 392