The 21st Amendment ended Prohibition in 1933, but the amendment took center stage recently at the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices considered whether the amendment provided an exception to the dormant commerce clause, which disfavors state interference in interstate commerce. Specifically, the court examined a Tennessee law that prohibited issuing liquor licenses to anyone who had not lived in the state for at least two years. Despite this discrimination against nonresidents of Tennessee, a trade association in Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Blair asked the Supreme Court to hold that the law did not violate the dormant commerce clause because of the special status afforded to state regulation of alcohol sales by the 21st Amendment.

In 2016, two entities applied to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) for license to open liquor retail stores in the state. The applications, however, did not comply with Tennessee law. In particular, Section 57-3-204 of the Tennessee Code prohibits, among other things, the issuance of licenses for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages to any individual “who has not been a bona fide resident of Tennessee during the two-year period immediately preceding the date” of application. The residency requirement was not satisfied, and the Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association—a trade association representing Tennessee liquor retailers—threatened legal action against the TABC if it did not faithfully apply the residency requirement of Section 57-3-204.