Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, said he believes an Ohio court case, Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury, may succeed in rolling back federal overreach regarding Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce under the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause.
The Buckeye Institute, an Ohio think tank, filed Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury in January on behalf of John Ream of Licking County, Ohio.
After receiving and experimenting with a home brewing kit, Ream opened Trek Brewing Company in Newark, which has supported his family since 2017. Ream also has an interest in home distilling—specifically, distilling small quantities of alcohol in his own home for his personal consumption. However, under federal law, those who undertake home distilling are subject to a felony conviction, $10,000 in fines, and five years in prison.
The Buckeye Institute, in regards to the case, posed the question, “If Congress can prohibit home distilling, what’s to stop it from banning home bread baking, sewing, or vegetable gardening?”
“Practically anything can be outlawed,” the think tank said.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to overturn the federal government’s ban on the home distilling of spirited beverages. They argue that the current ban exceeds congressional authority under Article I of the U.S. Constitution and violates the 10th Amendment.
The case is pending with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.
Robert Alt, the president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute representing Ream in the case, recently noted at a forum hosted by The Federalist Society that home distilling is singled out by the federal government when it comes to personal consumption:
Much in the way that [Ream] engaged previously in the hobby of brewing, he would be interested in trying his hand at distilling. He has an interest in American whiskeys, bourbon and rye in particular, and, given his sort of very precise nature, he would like to try his hand at home distillation for his and his wife’s own personal consumption, not for sale. There’s just one problem and that is, if you want to go home tonight and try your hand at home brewing, post reforms that were made, oddly enough, in the Carter administration, perfectly lawful to do so. If you want to go home tonight and engage in making homemade wine, I would highly advise against it on the grounds of taste, but you are permitted to do so. If you go home tonight and distill even a single ounce of whiskey it is a felony. Even if you jump through regulatory hurdles to become a distiller, home distilling is prohibited subject to substantial prison terms and fines. And quite frankly, Mr. Ream’s desire to try this as a hobby for his own personal consumption was snuffed out before he would even have the opportunity to do so.
Leahy, on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, first pointed to the 1942 Commerce Clause case Wickard v. Filburn – which determined Congress has the authority to regulate activities that can affect the national wheat market and wheat prices, even on a farm as little as 23-acres – as the case that opened up “all sorts of overreach” by the federal government when it comes to the Commerce Clause.
Regarding the Ohio case, Leahy said he believes the plaintiffs will argue that the Supreme Court’s decision was wrong in Wickard v. Filburn, specifically arguing that “the government shouldn’t tell you what you can or can’t produce.”
However, Leahy noted that the Ohio case may have better success in rolling back federal overreach if the plaintiffs used Gonzales v. Raich—a case in which the Supreme Court concurred in 2005 that Congress may criminalize the production of homegrown marijuana even if a state law protects its growth and consumption for medical purposes—to further their argument.
“I’m very optimistic, personally… that this case in Ohio might have some success, but in order to have success, it’s probably not the Wickard v. Filburn case – they need to look at the Gonzales v. Raich case and the concurrence in that by Justice Scalia,” Leahy said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
