(AP Photo/Mal Fairclough, File)
ST. LOUIS (CN) — The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a Florida wine distributor’s challenge to Missouri’s liquor license residency laws, affirming a federal judge’s dismissal based on Supreme Court precedent.
Florida-based Sarasota Wine Market and two Missouri consumers, who state law has blocked from becoming Sarasota customers, filed the lawsuit challenging the state’s requirement that those seeking a liquor license must be a qualified voter and a taxpaying citizen of the state. They claim Missouri’s ban violates the Constitution’s commerce clause by protecting in-state businesses over out-of-state ones.
The state countered in a September hearing before the St. Louis-based appeals court that the lawsuit was simply an attack on the three-tier system governing alcohol sales set up by the 21st Amendment. The three-tier system of regulating alcohol producers, distributors and retailers was put into place following Prohibition as a sort of check and balance to ensure safety measures were in place.