WINE INSTITUTE STATEMENT:
PRESIDENT SIGNS "21st AMENDMENT ENFORCEMENT ACT"
October 29, 2000
Contact: Communications Department, Wine Institute 415/356-7525
Washington, DC –
President Clinton signed into law the “Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000,” which includes Senator Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) S. 577, the “21st Amendment Enforcement Act,” as amended by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).S.
577 allows state Attorneys General federal court jurisdiction to pursue
potential civil injunctive relief for alleged violations of state law regulating
the importation or transportation of alcohol.
Those news reports that initially claimed that S. 577 will “halt
Internet sales of wine” are clearly in error.
Quite to the contrary, the legal framework already in place allowing
consumers to receive interstate shipments in 20 states and intrastate shipments
in 30 states will remain intact. The
new law does not provide for either civil damages or criminal penalties and will
not adversely affect businesses currently making legal shipments.
With
the passage of S. 577, including the Feinstein amendment, Congress and the
President for the first time have recognized that the powers vested in the
states by the 21st Amendment are not absolute.
This mirrors the last 35 years of Supreme Court interpretation of limited
state power under the 21st Amendment, requiring the courts to balance
state authority under the 21st Amendment with other constitutional
rights such as the commerce clause, the due process clause, and the First
Amendment. Therefore, in order to
gain injunctive relief, a state Attorney General must prove that state law has
been violated, and that the law is a valid exercise of power under the 21st
Amendment and not inconsistent with any other provision of the Constitution.
The President’s signature does not grant states any additional power
nor endorse any state alcohol laws.
In fact, political closure at the federal level of this highly controversial issue provides an additional incentive for Wine Institute to continue working vigorously at the state level to open the remaining states to allow limited direct shipments of wine to adult citizens. Just as he first stated in May, 1999, at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) annual convention in Boston, Wine Institute President & CEO John De Luca once again makes a direct call to WSWA, “We invite the wholesaler community to work with our organization and consumer groups to craft creative solutions state-by-state as we have since 1985.”
S.
577 may well prove beneficial in future litigation, as it is clear that certain
state alcohol laws are discriminatory and anti-competitive.
These laws protect the wholesalers, and harm consumer choice and hundreds
of small wineries that are locked out of the 65-year-old distribution system.
State laws that encroach on interstate commerce, or other
constitutionally guaranteed rights, are being challenged by wineries and
consumers in New York, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Indiana, Michigan and North
Carolina.
De
Luca praised the many members of Congress, especially Senator Feinstein and
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), for the legal procedural
safeguards included in the final version of S. 577.
Their Congressional Record statements are available at www.wineinstitute.org
in the What’s New? section.