Granholm v. Heald
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 7, 2004 Decided May 16, 2005
Full case name: Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of Michigan, et al., Petitioners v. Eleanor Heald, et al.; Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association, Petitioner v. Eleanor Heald, et al.; Juanita Swedenburg, et al., Petitioners v. Edward D. Kelly, Chairman, New York Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, State Liquor Authority, et al. Citations: 544 U.S. 460; 125 S. Ct. 1885; 161 L. Ed. 2d 796; 73 U.S.L.W. 4321; 05 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4068; 2005 Daily Journal D.A.R. 5561; 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 263; 2005 U.S. LEXIS 4174 Prior history: Heald v. Engler, 342 F.3d 517 (6th Cir. 2003); rehearing and suggestion for rehearing en banc denied (Nov. 4, 2003); cert. granted, 541 U.S. 1062 (2004). Swedenburg v. Kelly, 358 F.3d 223 (2d Cir. 2004); cert. granted, 541 U.S. 1062 (2004).
Holding
The Court ruled that laws in New York and Michigan that permitted in-state wineries to ship wine directly to consumers, but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same are unconstitutional.
Court membership
Chief Justice: William Rehnquist Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority by: Kennedy Joined by: Scalia, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer Dissent by: Stevens Joined by: O'Connor Dissent by: Thomas Joined by: Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor
Laws applied
Dormant Commerce Clause; U.S. Const. amend. XXI

Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 (2005), is a court case finally decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, unusual because the arguments centered around the rarely-invoked 21st Amendment to the Constitution ratified in 1933. (This amendment ended Prohibition, the ban on alcoholic beverages throughout the U.S.) The 5-4 decision ruled that laws in New York and Michigan that permitted in-state wineries to ship wine directly to consumers, but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same are unconstitutional. Image File history File links Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the... In English Law certiorari (Latin, to inform) is a public law relief (i. ... NY redirects here. ... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ... Wine Barrels A winery is a facility where fruit, usually grapes, is processed into wine. ... A glass of red wine This article is about the alcoholic beverage. ... William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure, who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... John Paul Stevens (born April 20, 1920) is an American jurist, and the senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Italic textInsert non-formatted text here Sandra Day OConnor (born March 26, 1930) is an American jurist who served as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. ... Antonin Gregory Scalia (born March 11, 1936[1]) is an American jurist and the second most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) has been an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1988. ... David Hackett Souter (born September 17, 1939) has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1990. ... Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist and has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991. ... Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg (born March 15, 1933, Brooklyn, New York) is an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. ... Stephen Gerald Breyer (born August 15, 1938) is an American attorney, political figure, and jurist. ... The Dormant Commerce Clause is a phrase that originated with a comment made by Chief Justice John Marshall in the case of Willson v. ... Amendment XXI (the Twenty-first Amendment) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition. ... // The United States Reports, the official reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the... Amendment XXI (the Twenty-first Amendment) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The term Prohibition, also known as A Dry Law, refers to a law in a certain country by which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. ... NY redirects here. ... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ... Wine Barrels A winery is a facility where fruit, usually grapes, is processed into wine. ... A glass of red wine This article is about the alcoholic beverage. ...

Background

Granholm v. Heald was the conclusion of an eight-year fight by small wineries against these laws. Although direct shipments to consumers constituted only about 2% of wine sales in the United States (whose total sales were US$21.6 billion in 2003), direct sales were thought to be an opportunity for growth. Laws in the eight states varied, but typically a winery could only distribute wine by selling it to a wholesaler in the state. The wholesaler could then distribute the wine to retailers or sell directly to consumers. This made the large wholesalers very powerful in the wine industry; if wholesalers in New York decided not to purchase wine from a particular winery, then that winery would be completely shut out of the New York market. The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... One thousand million (1,000,000,000) is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. ... In commerce, a wholesaler buys goods in large quantities from their manufacturers or importers, and then sells smaller quantities to retailers, who in turn sell to the general public. ...

Arguments

The court case, which was a consolidation of two separate lawsuits, pitted the Dormant Commerce Clause doctrine, inferred from the Constitution's Article I, against Section Two of the 21st Amendment. The Dormant Commerce Clause is a phrase that originated with a comment made by Chief Justice John Marshall in the case of Willson v. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Article One of the United States Constitution Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of the legislative branch of the United States government, known as Congress, which includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. ... Amendment XXI (the Twenty-first Amendment) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition. ...

Section Two of the 21st Amendment reads:

The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. Although rapeing young girls for there virginity is highly liked

The Commerce Clause of Article One of the Constitution grants Congress the power: Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, known as the Commerce Clause, reads as follows:The Congress shall have Power . ...

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.

In turn, the Dormant Commerce Clause (or "DCC") has been inferred from the Commerce Clause. The DCC is a doctrine, evolved over many decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, that the states do not have the power to enact anticompetitive laws that discriminate against sellers in other states. The Dormant Commerce Clause is a phrase that originated with a comment made by Chief Justice John Marshall in the case of Willson v. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the...

Eleanor Heald, a wine collector, and eleven other plaintiffs, argued that Michigan's Liquor Control Code violated the DCC by making it a misdemeanor for an out-of-state winery to ship wine directly to a Michigan resident. (In-state wineries were allowed to do so.) The same argument was made in a separate case against the government of the state of New York by Juanita Swedenburg and other owners of out-of-state wineries.

In each of these two cases, the state governments of Michigan and New York had argued that Section 2 of the 21st Amendment granted them carte blanche to regulate liquor. One of their justifications for the laws was that by regulating out-of-state wineries in this way, they might be able to hinder the shipment of alcohol to underage minors; this would serve a valid state purpose.

The government of New York had won in the federal Second Circuit Court, and the government of Michigan had lost in the Sixth Circuit. The cases were consolidated and heard at once by the U.S. Supreme Court. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: District of Connecticut Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York District of Vermont The Second Circuit hears argument at the Thurgood Marshall U... The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: Western and Eastern Districts of Kentucky Western and Eastern Districts of Michigan Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of Tennessee...

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court decided the states' laws were unconstitutional. The context of the 21st Amendment, they wrote, was to return to the status quo that existed before Prohibition, making it clear that the states had the power to regulate alcohol however they wished, including banning alcoholic beverages entirely within the state if desired. Before Prohibition, the states did not have the power to violate the Dormant Commerce Clause, and the 21st Amendment was not intended to grant them this power.

Consequences

Michigan's liquor control board announced it would recommend to the state government that it ban all direct wine sales to consumers, joining the 15 other states currently banning all such sales.

New York governor George Pataki unveiled a bill that would limit each winery's direct sales to consumers to 2 cases per month. As a Wall Street Journal editorial noted, two cases per month sounds like a lot of wine, but the measure was intended to reduce competition for New York alcohol distributors. George Elmer Pataki (born June 24, 1945) is the current Governor of New York State, USA serving since January 1995, and as of late 2006 is the longest-serving of all current U.S. governors. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ...

After the ruling, industry experts generally opined that small wineries would benefit greatly, as the ruling not only threw out laws banning discriminatory direct sales to consumers, but also implicitly ruled unconstitutional laws that would prohibit retailers from ordering wine directly from their favorite out-of-state vineyards.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 544

This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 544 of the United States Reports: Tenet v. ...

References

• Web page on the case, including evidence and briefs, by Alex Tanford, an attorney involved in the litigation
• Article on the case (while it was still underway) from the Medill School of Journalism