The Seventh Circuit heard arguments on September 17th in Freehan v. Berg, the challenge to Illinois’s wine retailer shipping law. Illinois lets in-state retailers ship wine to Illinois residents but denies that privilege to out-of-state retailers.
The most important dynamic in the case may be a trap Judge Easterbrook set for himself. In Chicago Wine Co. […]
For full disclosure, I am co-counsel on this case with Gillian Garrett, an outstanding attorney from the Bay Area.
California wanted to dismiss a Commerce Clause challenge to a discriminatory law, which allows its own wineries to sell direct to retailer but denies this same privilege to out-of-state wineries.
In Blue Sky Vineyard, LLC v. Tupy […]
Today, I filed my fifth amicus brief before the United States Supreme Court, this time in Yost v. Miller. The brief supports the Ohio Attorney General’s petition for certiorari while urging the Court to affirm the Sixth Circuit’s decision.
The case presents issues that extend far beyond wine. At stake is […]
On June 5th, the state of Ohio filed a challenge to the 6th Circuit’s ruling in Block v. Canepa, which held that Ohio’s discriminatory wine retailer shipping law was unconstitutional for violating the dormant Commerce Clause and that the law did not properly serve health and safety interest.
The State of Ohio filed a cert petition […]
On June 5th, Ohio notified the Sixth Circuit that it has filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, appealing the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Block v. Canepa, which held that Ohio’s discriminatory wine retailer shipping law and alcohol importation restriction laws as unconstitutional. It further requested that the filing […]
On February 24, 2026, my co-counsel, Gillian Garrett and I filed suit against the State of California challenging laws that allow California wineries to sell directly to California retailers without using a wholesaler, while denying those same privileges to out-of-state wineries.
We believe California’s system violates the dormant Commerce Clause by granting in-state wineries a substantial […]
A week after its discriminatory wine retailer shipping law was found unconstitutional by the Sixth Circuit, Ohio filed a motion to stay the Sixth Circuit’s mandate.
In the first line of the motion Ohio AG Dave Yost states that Ohio intends to file a writ of certiorari in this case with SCOTUS and the deadline for filing […]
In February, I announced a lawsuit that I filed with my co-counsel, Gillian Garrett, on behalf of Blue Sky Vineyards (an Illinois winery) and The Wine Country (a California retailer in Signal Hill). The case asks a focused question: when California allows in-state wineries to sell wine directly to California retailers, can […]
One day after the Sixth Circuit decision held Ohio’s wine retailer shipping law and alcohol transportation restrictions unconstitutional, the petitioners challenging Arizona’s discriminatory wine retailer shipping law filed a Supplemental Brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The petition has centered on a growing split among the circuits over how courts should analyze […]
The Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court decision upholding Ohio’s discriminatory wine retailer shipping law and its law limiting Ohio residents from transporting wine into the state. As the Court stated “We thus hold the Direct Ship Restriction unconstitutional.”
The Sixth Circuit held that the district court’s focusing its Tennessee Wine analysis on […]