Supreme Court Allows Direct Shipment of Wine

jrrl writes "For a while now, ordering wine (of the alcoholic variety, not the almost 0.9 variety) online has been a somewhat dicey proposition in some states. But today, the Supreme Court overturned state laws that disallowed direct shipment of wine from out of state. Their reasoning is that the states' 'authority to regulate the sale of alcohol within their borders' under the 21st Amendment does not supersede 'the Constitution's ban on state discrimination against interstate commerce.' States could still disallow all direct shipments, but at least they have to be evenhanded now."

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

[Chordonblue]

Anyone else glance at the title and think: What the hell would a state have to do with non-emulation?

Wheres Elliot?

[stimpleton]

Is there a thriving business driving wooden barrells of wine over state borders in the USA? With the old trucks, and stetson hats and tommy guns?

Does the book keeper come along too?

OK, so my visualisation is a little close to the rediculous, but where I come from, nuclear weapons might get you in trouble.

But a bottle of 1986 Shiraz?

Will this make wine...

[Anonymous Coward]

... free as in speech, or free as in beer?

Wow that caught me off guard

[CSMastermind]

I was so expecting to see an article about a Windows Emulator...I'm offically a hopeless nerd. Heh anyway...

My parents own a bar in Ohio. You know you'd be surprised the amount of laws there still are about these kind of things. I'm happy to see that these steps are being taken but really it makes one wonder about the state of interstate commerce.

Re:Yeah, yeah, yeah...

[ZosX]

Didn't you get the memo?

WINE == Wine Is Not an Emulator.

Re:Commerce Clause

[chihowa]

Posting anonymously since I do a lot of business with WSWA types.

Ahhh, but we were one step ahead of you. We've completed the trace and the leg breaking is on its way. That'll teach you to post comments on Slashdot disparaging the WSWA. Bwahahahahaha

Doesn't anyone care about safety?

[lheal]

Youth should be taught safe drinking. They should learn to know their limits, and what alcohol can do to them.

After all, they're going to drink, so let's make sure they do it properly.

It's time for a drinker's license, just as there are driver's licenses and hunting licenses. You should have to pass a test (with both written and practical components), or you shouldn't get to drink.

In the absence of a drinker's license, kids will learn their drinking skills from peers and young adults, often those with the worst drinking skills. Bartenders, while often highly trained professionals, seldom have the time to instruct young novice drinkers on the finer points such as:

• which drinks can get you hammered quickest
• proper chugging technique
• how to fake being drunk to avoid awkward social circumstances
• how to fake being sober to avoid awkward legal circumstances
• how to select the proper drink regimen to avoid blowing chunks
• the proper use of "beer goggles", and how to act in the morning when they no longer work

Until we properly attend to the needs of our youth, we won't be sure of the kind of society we'll become. The future of drinking, and our civilization built on its mighty foundation, is too important to be left to random chance.

Re:The Baptists will be/get pissed.

[TheTomcat]

"If you go fishing with a Baptist, make sure there is at least 2 of them" (e.g. if there is only one then he will drink all of your beer).

What's the difference between a Baptist and a Catholic?
The Catholic will say "hi" to you in the liquor store.

(I grew up going to a Baptist church...)

S

Re:First Fire_Horse post

[Anonymous Coward]

mod parent up +5, WEMON

Say what...

[__aaclcg7560]

Doesn't WINE come with every Linux distro that's available in the world? I guess we need the Supreme Court (USA) to keep Microsoft from interfering with WINE. You would think with a few gazillion USDs in the bank that they could get their own booze.

Re:Yeah, yeah, yeah...

[darkonc]

What the hell would a state have to do with non-emulation?

Yeah, It took a few seconds to realize 'they're talking about wetware here, not software.'

Re:WOOT!!!

[Darth_brooks]

Does your 16-year old have his very own, unmonitored by you, credit card / debit card? Last time I checked, not many internet retailers took cash. The supreme court knocked down rules that prohibited interstate commerce. yay supreme court

Besides your kid should have to sit around in front of a quik-e-mart and ask passersby to buy for him like the rest of us god fearing americans! Back in my day we didn't have the internet! we had creepy guys, older brothers, and bums with state ID's! and we had to have them buy is cheap wine in the snow, uphill, both ways! AND WE LIKED IT!

Don't go fishing with Baptists...

[Anonymous Coward]

...unless you want to get wet.

Re:Save the fuckin' children, for chirsts sake!

[nacturation]

LOL, this is a health issue. We don't want kids getting drunk and turning into alcoholics.

Yeah, I can just picture it now:

Billy: "Hey Bobby, wanna get drunk?"

Bobby: "Sure, Billy! But where are we going to get some alcohol? Sure we can fight in Iraq and kill people, but we need to be 21 to be allowed permission to drink certain beverages."

Billy: "Well, lucky for me I managed to get a credit card without them knowing I'm underage."

Bobby: "Cool! But won't stores check your ID?"

Billy: "Aha! You forgot about the internet. Tons of shops willing to sell you cases of wine."

Bobby: "Oh man, this is going to be great. Let's google for some wine sites."

Billy: "Okay, here's a good one. Lots of stuff in stock. How about a 2003 Pinot Noir?"

Bobby: "Naw, I heard that's a bad year. Now a 2004 Shiraz is just what the doctor ordered!"

Billy: "You fool! Only sissies drink Shiraz, and 2004 is much too recent to fully develop the subtle hints of oak that a good Shiraz requires. I say we go for a medium-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, say... 2002 late season."

Bobby: "But all they have from 2002 is the leftover wines. Don't you read Wine Spectator? And those ones are decidedly missing out on the fruity overtones and smooth finish."

Billy: "Good point. Hm... how about something from the Napa Valley, I hear their 2001 Merlots are spectacular."

Bobby: "Excellent choice... so, want a case of it?"

Billy: "Yeah, might as well. We'll have some good leftovers for all those chicks we'll invite over! [chuckle]"

Bobby: "Okay, I'm just checking out... now standard shipping is 5-7 days, but for an extra $21.95, we can have two-day shipping fully insured."

Billy: "Do they do overnight?"

Bobby: "Apparently none of the couriers will take overnight shipments because it's so fragile."

Billy: "Okay, let's do the two-day shipping."

Bobby: "Done. Order has been placed, here's the confirmation number for UPS. Man, Wednesday night is going to be rocking!"

Billy: "Yeah man... I can't wait..."

Bobby: [stares at monitor blankly]

Billy: "So..."

Bobby: "Uh..."

Billy: "Hey, wanna sniff some glue? Then maybe neck a little?"

Bobby: "Sure, I'll go get the stuff!"

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Save the fuckin' children, for chirsts sake!

[raehl]

while I can counter-point that the money spent to arrest, adjudicate, and incarcerate someone would be better spent on treatment.

And I can argue that that money would be better spent on one bullet and a tax rebate.

Why is society obliged to provide a safety net for drug use? Don't use drugs. If you do use drugs to the point that you become a burden to society, that's your problem.

We should do what the brits did with Australia. Let's create a Drug Treatment Reservaton by walling off a few thousand acres of Wyoming and suspending minimum wage laws within that area. If you get arrested and need drug treatment, we slap one of those electronic monitors on your leg and send you to the reservation. We'll let you back out after 2 years. Either you'll figure out how to survive without bothering productive members of society or you'll die.

Let's put drug addicts to work!

Re:Yeah, yeah, yeah...

[Anonymous Coward]

Most societies (even unimportant ones, like Australia) take more than 5 years to collapse, so don't relax, yet.