State Liquor Laws On Trial at U.S. Supreme Court
A Memphis couple will fight the Tennessee liquor lobby before the U.S. Supreme Court next month, refuting a state law that many, including a past Tennessee Attorney General, have said violates the U.S. Constitution.
State law now requires anyone seeking a license to operate a liquor store to be a resident of Tennessee for at least two years before they can get a license. That law says that since these stores sell products with higher amounts of alcohol, it “is in the interest of the state of Tennessee to maintain a higher degree of oversight, control, and accountability” over the people who have liquor-store licenses.
“For these reasons,” reads the law, “it is in the best interest of the health safety, and welfare of the state of Tennessee to require all licensees to be residents of the state of Tennessee…” so they can best institute inspection, reporting, and education programs to insure state laws are being upheld.
But the law was twice deemed unconstitutional by Robert Cooper when he served as the Tennessee Attorney General in separate opinions issued in 2012 and 2014. Before his appointment to the post in 2006, Cooper had served as legal counsel to Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat.
Read more: https://www.memphisflyer.com/NewsBlog/archives/2018/12/14/state-liquor-laws-on-trial-at-us-supreme-court
= new reply since forum marked as read
