In 2005 Juanita Swedenburg won a battle in the United State Supreme Court to tear down protectionist barriers that kept wineries from shipping directly to consumers in other states.
On May 16, 2005, in a 5-to-4 vote on an action brought by Mrs. Swedenburg and others, the Supreme Court overturned laws in New York and Michigan that discriminated against out-of-state wineries that wanted to ship directly to consumer's homes. Both states permitted in-state wineries to ship in state. Michigan had banned all shipments from out-of-state wineries; New York allowed them if the wineries had offices in New York. None of the wineries had office in NY, and Mrs. Swedenburg's lawsuit argued that, even if they did, the requirement would amount to a direct prohibition. The courts decision resolved a longstanding conflict between a states right to regulate the sale and use of wines and liquors, as outlined in the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which ended Prohibition, and the Constitution's commerce clause, which limits a states ability to erect economic barriers against goods shipped from beyond its borders.
In his majority opinion, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said New York and Michigan were engaging in the kid of protectionism the commerce clause forbids.
Mrs. Swedenburg and her husband, Wayne, both former United States Foreign Service officers, bought a farm in Middleburg in 1976 and opened Swedenburg Estate Vineyard in 1988, a tiny operation that produces about 2,500 cases a year.
In her Foreign Service years, Mrs. Swedenburg developed a taste for European wines made from vinifera grapes like chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, varieties she cultivated in her vineyard. She was a founder of the Vinifera Wine Growers Association in Alexandria, VA.
Apparently unimpressed by the powerful liquor industry forces aligned against her, Mrs. Swedenburg enlisted the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, to handle her case. In a statement after her death, a senior lawyer for the institute, said of Mrs. Swedenburg: Without Juanita urging us to challenge those absurd direct shipping laws, we might never have brought the case.
To learn more about this case, you may go to the Institute of Justice website: www.ij.org
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