Amid these crazy times when everything seems on the precipice, it's very good to know that there is still a small, fiery, high-proof part of America still left in this great nation of ours:
A federal judge rejected a more than century-old ban on home distilling as unconstitutional Wednesday.
Judge Mark Pittman, a Trump appointee, found that a federal law making it a felony to distill spirits at home exceeded Congress' power, holding that neither Congress' tax power nor its ability to regulate interstate commerce justify the ban. Pittman permanently blocked the government from enforcing the ban, which threatens violators with up to $10,000 in fines or 5 years in prison, against the plaintiffs it found to have standing.
Our nation's valiant bathtub hooch brewers celebrating right now like:
The Constitution "is written to prevent societal amnesia of the defined limits it places on this government of and by the people," Judge Pittman wrote:
That is where the judiciary must declare when its coequal branches overstep their Constitutional authority. Congress has done so here.
Translation: The government can't just outlaw whatever it feels like. That's always true and is true now.
The suit had been brought by the Hobby Distillers Association. Lawyer Dan Greenberg said the plaintiffs were "pleased to see that the court determined that the home distilling ban is unconstitutional."
More broadly, the court's decision reminds us that, as Americans, we live under a government of limited powers.
And we love that we're being reminded of that by a tub fulla moonshine. God Bless America!
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