Cuccinelli Argues In Favor of Increased Government Intervention

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Ox, gored, etc.

Bill in Congress would undo Virginia vintner's victory over wine shipping

By Dave McIntyre
Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The battle over direct shipping of wine from producer to consumer has returned to Congress. Last month, Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) introduced legislation pushed by beer and wine wholesalers that could make it nearly impossible for consumers to have wine shipped to their door.

Delahunt's bill would effectively overturn a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued five years ago this month in Granholm v. Heald, a case brought by the late Virginia vintner Juanita Swedenburg. The ruling held that states had primary responsibility for regulating the distribution of alcoholic beverages, but that they could not discriminate against out-of-state producers by allowing only their own wineries to ship to consumers.
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Simply put, the direct-shipping battle pits the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition and gave the states authority to regulate alcohol distribution (a compromise that allowed some states to remain "dry"), against the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which gives Congress, not the states, authority to regulate interstate commerce and trade.

Delahunt's bill, H.R. 5034, declares that alcoholic beverages are not like other consumer products, that they do not fall under the Commerce Clause and that states have ultimate authority to regulate their distribution. It would also place a high burden of proof on any legal challenge to a state's distribution laws.

With this bill, opponents of direct shipping cannily enrobed their cause in three hot-button political issues: The bill would stop "deregulation" of alcohol by reinforcing "states' rights" and limiting "excessive litigation." Attorneys general from 39 states, including Maryland's Douglas F. Gansler (D) and Virginia's Ken Cuccinelli II (R), signed a letter to Congress supporting the bill.
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News reports give the bill little chance of becoming law, partly because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) owns a vineyard and is said to be against any measure that would hurt small wineries.

In other words, Cuccinelli doesn't want you to receive wine shipped from out of state. And who would know more about how you should be living than Ken Cuccinelli?