Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Federal Ban on Distilling Liquor at Home
19th October 2026
CBS News, a Voice of the Crust.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will consider the constitutionality of a nearly 160-year-old federal ban on distilling liquor at home.
Arguments in the case, known as Department of Justice v. McNutt, will likely take place next year, with a decision coming by late June or early July.
For more than a century, Congress has limited the location of distilling to prevent tax evasion. Under the law at issue in the case, enacted in 1868, a “person may not produce distilled spirits at home for personal use.” Any person who uses or possesses stills or other equipment to produce distilled spirits in “any dwelling house” or shed, yard or enclosure faces criminal penalties.
Violators face fines and up to five years in prison. The violator’s home and property within it are also subject to forfeiture.
Congress approved the restrictions after determining that there was rampant tax evasion by commercial distillers. At that time, the tax rate for spirits was $2 per gallon, more than their market price, and commercial distillers found it cheaper to bribe revenue officers than pay the tax, according to a House report from 1867. Lawmakers determined that “at least seven-eights” of spirits went untaxed at the time.
The legislation that ultimately would prohibit home distilling cut the tax rate and required the duties to be paid before the spirits were removed from warehouses. There are no exceptions for distilled spirits made for personal or family use.