Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/321/131
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 14:10:56+00:00

Document:
The appellants were convicted of violations of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Act 1 and certain Regulations issued pursuant to it, concerning the transportation of intoxicating liquor through the Commonwealth. Their contention that the pertinent provisions of the Act and Regulations 2 violated the Commerce Clause, Article I, Section 8(3), of the Federal Constitution was rejected by Virginia's highest court, the Supreme Court of Appeals. 181 Va. 306, 24 S.E.2d 569; 181 Va. 313, 24 S.E.2d 550. The cases are here on appeals pursuant to Section 237(a) of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C. 344(a), 28 U.S.C.A. § 344(a).
The Act in question contains a comprehensive scheme for the control of trade in alcoholic beverages within the territory of Virginia. By the statute an Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is established and authorized to adopt such regulations 'as it may deem necessary' to confine the transportation of liquor 'to legitimate purposes.' 3 The A.B.C. Board promulgated regulations applicable to transportation through Virginia. 4 The requirements here in issue are these: (1) The vehicle must use the most direct route and carry a bill of lading showing the route it will travel; (2) The carrier must post a bond in the penal sum of $1,000 conditioned on lawful transportation; and (3) The bill of lading must show the name of the true consignee, and that consignee must have a legal right to receive the beverages at the stated destination.
The appellants argue, first, that the Twenty-first Amendment gives Virginia no power to prohibit absolutely the shipment of liquor from Maryland to North Carolina through Virginia; second, that its power to regulate such shipments is limited by the Commerce Clause to regulations reasonably necessary to enforce its local liquor laws and not unduly burdensome on interstate commerce; third, that Virginia has no authority to penalize prospective violations of the criminal laws of North Carolina or the United States. It will be observed that the intoxicating liquors in question are intended for continuous shipment through Virginia, so that here, as in the Duckworth case, 5 a different question arises from those considered under the Twenty-first Amendment, 6 where transportation or importation into a state for delivery or use therein was prohibited. But we may put aside the first and third contentions, for we are satisfied that Virginia may, notwithstanding the Commerce Clause and independently of the Twenty-first Amendment, in order to protect herself from illicit liquor traffic within her borders, subject the shipment of liquor through Virginia to the regulations here in question.
We are therefore dealing with a case in which Virginia is attempting no more than the enforcement of her own laws; she is not seeking to inflict punishment for the violation of the laws of North Carolina. Whether or not she is entitled thus to enforce her laws must be judged in the light of our long-standing recognition of the exceptional problems involved in successfully regulating trade in intoxicating liquors. James Clark Distilling Co. v. Western Maryland R. Co., 242 U.S. 311, 332, 37 S.Ct. 180, 187, 61 L.Ed. 326, L.R.A. 1917B, 1218, Ann.Cas.1917B, 845; Duckworth v. Arkansas, supra, 314 U.S. at page 396, 62 S.Ct. at page 314, 86 L.Ed. 294, 138 A.L.R. 1144. We do not consider the appellee's suggestion that complete exclusion (and hence these partial restraints) of motor carriers from the through liquor traffic and a limitation of through transit to rail carriers would be consonant with the Commerce Clause. Cf. Ziffrin, Inc., v. Reeves, 308 U.S. 132, 140, 60 S.Ct. 163, 167, 84 L.Ed. 128. Whatever may be the effect of the Twenty-first Amendment, this record presents no problem that may not be resolved under the Commerce Clause alone. That Clause remains in the Constitution as a grant of power to Congress to control commerce and as a diminution pro tanto of absolute state sovereignty over the same subject matter. The Twenty-first Amendment limits that grant of power as to intoxicating liquor by prohibiting 'transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein * * * in violation of the laws thereof.' By interpretation of this Court the Amendment has been held to relieve the states of the limitations of the Commerce Clause on their powers over such transportation or importation. 7 It has also been held that shipment through a state is not transportation or importation into the state within the meaning of the Amendment. Collins v. Yosemite Park Co., 304 U.S. 518, 535, 538, 58 S.Ct. 1009, 1017, 1018, 82 L.Ed. 1502. But in the present case we need not consider the power of Virginia under the Twenty-first Amendment to regulate through shipments. It is enough that Virginia could conclude, in the absence of contrary Federal legislation, that she could not safely permit the transportation of liquor through her territory by those who concededly mean to break Federal laws 8 and the laws of a neighboring state. By her ruling she has imposed no substantial clog on whatever cognate rights her sister states may have to determine their own policies regarding intoxicating liquors and to receive alcoholic beverages in interstate commerce, if they so desire.
Virginia Code Section 4675(49a). 'Transportation; transportation permits; penaltiesThe transportation of alcoholic beverages, other than wine and beer purchased from persons licensed to sell same in this State, and those alcoholic beverages which may be manufactured and sold without any license under the provisions of this act, within, into or through the State of Virginia in quantities in excess of one gallon is prohibited except in accordance with regulations adopted by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board pursuant to this section.
Twenty-first Amendment, Section 2; 27 U.S.C. 122.
I. N. GORDON, appellant, v. STATE OF TEXAS.
UNITED STATES v. FRANKFORT DISTILLERIES, Inc., and seven other cases.

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