John Ream v. Department of the Treasury, et al.

Federal law prohibits “producing distilled spirits…in any dwelling house, or in any shed, yard, or inclosure connected with such dwelling house.” 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(6); see also id. § 5178(a)(1)(B). The Government defends this prohibition as a necessary and proper means of implementing the federal excise tax on distilled spirits, notwithstanding that it prohibits the very activity subject to that tax, and as an exercise of Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce under Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005). The Sixth Circuit in this case upheld the prohibition as an appropriate means of preventing evasion of the distilled spirits tax, breaking with a recent decision of the Fifth Circuit holding precisely the opposite. The questions presented are:

1. Whether the federal prohibition on home distilling exceeds Congress’s enumerated powers.

2. Whether the Court should overrule Raich or at least clarify that Congress’s commerce power does not extend to regulation of local, noncommercial conduct and that its exercise is subject to meaningful judicial scrutiny.