One Less Circuit Court Case Reviewing State Alcohol Laws – 10th Circuit Appeal Withdrawn

The Plaintiffs challenging Wyoming state alcohol laws in the 10th Circuit voluntarily withdrew their appeal ending their challenge.

Phoenix Vineyards operated a form of “winery Tupperware party” where their representatives would visit houses and drum up support for their wines.  The state of Wyoming noted that this sounded very much like a sale requiring a state license.   The district court originally certified the sale question to the Wyoming Supreme Court who held that indeed this activity is a sale as defined under Wyoming law.

The district court dismissed the plaintiff’s First Amendment challenge to the Wyoming law this summer.    With this withdrawal, the pending 8th Circuit case from Missouri and last year’s 9th Circuit case from California remain the most recent First Amendment activity at the federal circuit court level for alcohol laws.