Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that states cannot prohibit the shipment of wine directly to consumers, ruling unconstitutional Michigan and New York state laws which prohibit interstate shipments while permitting intrastate shipments.
Now that the law has been struck down, New York and Michigan will have to enact new laws which allow interstate shipment, so the fun is just beginning - you can be sure that legislators in these states will be lobbied heavily as they draft a replacement for the status quo.
Link: Wine Institute press release.
Of course, every winery's Web site has just become a little more imporant in the scheme of things.
For the record, the decision was 5 (Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer) to 4 (John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, William Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas).
Comments