As a former chemist and a current writer, I appreciate distillation, whether it involves boiling a complicated argument down to its essentials or producing something best enjoyed in a glass.

Now the Supreme Court has agreed to review whether Congress had the constitutional authority to prohibit home distilling under an 1868 law, giving a Reconstruction-era restriction a long-overdue day in court.

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide the legality of a federal ban on the home distilling of alcoholic spirits that was enacted in 1868 after the US Civil War to ‌crack down on liquor tax evasion.

The dispute pits Republican President Donald Trump‘s administration, which is defending the law, against challengers who argue that the home-distilling prohibition exceeds the authority of Congress under the US Constitution. More than a dozen Republican-led states have backed the legal challenge to the statute.

The Supreme Court took up the administration’s appeal of a lower court’s decision against the ban. The justices are expected to hear arguments in the case and issue a ruling by the end of June.

The Supreme Court's decision to review the federal home-distilling ban raises a constitutional question far larger than the production of whiskey.

Congress has the authority to impose and collect taxes under Article I, Section 8.

But does that taxing authority also permit…

— USA Politics Watch (@USPolitWatch) October 19, 2026