The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared Friday that a Reconstruction-era federal ban on home distilling exceeds Congress’s constitutional authority to levy taxes, ending, at the federal level, a prohibition that has been on the books since 1868 and carried penalties of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The three-judge panel sided with the Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members, who had challenged the ban. The ruling affirmed a July 2024 decision by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, Texas, who found that Congress overstepped its power by turning home distilling into a felony.
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