Our latest blog post on this proposition was on January 17, 2019, which discussed the efforts of various states to challenge California’s ban on the sale of eggs, pork and veal that have not been raised according to California’s strict standards for animal protection. Those standards establish minimum space requirements considerably more generous than the industry standards. The ban originally applied only to California farmers, but they quickly realized that they would be at…

On July 1, 2019, we blogged about the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down various Tennessee regulations whose purpose and effect was to limit the ability of non-Tennessee actors to compete in the retail market for alcoholic beverages. Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Ass’n v. Thomas, 139 S.Ct. 2449 (2019). Last month, the Fifth Circuit addressed a somewhat different restriction imposed by the State of Texas. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Com’n, 935 F.3d 362…

On May 9, 2019, we blogged about the challenge to the Minnesota farm winery statute. The statute allows Minnesota farms to bypass the traditional three-tier method of distributing alcoholic beverages and sell directly to retailers and consumers. To qualify as a farm winery, however, more than 50% of the grapes it uses must be grown in Minnesota. Two farm wineries argued that the statute violated the dormant commerce clause by discriminating against out-of-state grape growers.…

On April 10, 2019, we blogged about Minerva Dairy’s challenge to the Wisconsin butter grading statute. On June 24, 2019, the Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari.  Given the strength of the dairy lobby in Wisconsin – until the mid-1960’s manufacturers of margarine were not permitted to compare its taste to butter – a legislative solution seems unlikely.…