Vol. 1, Ed. 62 — Wed Oct 14: Supreme Court declines Ohio wine-shipping case

The Supreme Court declines to review Ohio's ban on out-of-state wine retailer shipping, DEA weighs in on a GAO report in the rescheduling hearing, and the Massachusetts auditor calls for ending liquor-license quotas. For general information only — not legal advice.

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This is the New Realm Compliance Brief, Volume One, Edition Sixty-Two, for Wednesday, October Fourteenth.

Our top story: the United States Supreme Court has declined to review Ohio's ban on wine shipments from out-of-state retailers. On Tuesday the justices denied, without comment, the Ohio attorney general's petition challenging a Sixth Circuit decision from May, which held that Ohio's ban on direct-to-consumer shipping by out-of-state wine retailers violates the Constitution's Commerce Clause. The denial is not a ruling on the merits, but it leaves the Sixth Circuit decision in place and sends the case back to the district court to decide a remedy. Appeals courts remain split on retailer shipping, so the rules still differ from circuit to circuit.

In federal news, the Drug Enforcement Administration told the judge overseeing the paused marijuana rescheduling hearing that it defers to him on whether to add a Government Accountability Office report to the record, but it opposes a new round of briefing. The report found that D E A and the Food and Drug Administration lack written procedures for scheduling evaluations. Rescheduling opponents, including the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana joined by three states, asked to admit the report, and one group requested limited discovery and new testimony.

Around the states: the Massachusetts state auditor released a report recommending the legislature eliminate the nineteen thirty-three population-based quota on restaurant and bar liquor licenses, citing resale prices near six hundred thousand dollars in Boston against about twenty-five hundred dollars in cities with local control. And South Dakota's attorney general said federal rescheduling would likely have a negligible effect on the state's medical cannabis program.

On the radar: quarterly federal excise tax returns for the third quarter are due today, October fourteenth. The federal hemp deadlines of November twelfth and December eleventh are unchanged.

Full details and source links are in today's email. This update is for general information only — it is not legal advice.