The Supreme Court has announced that it will review a Reconstruction-era ban on distilling spirits in private homes, a ban that dates back to the era of Reconstruction. This ban stems from post-Civil War statutes that are now primarily codified in the Internal Revenue Code; 26 U.S.C. § 5178(a)(1)(B) prohibits distilling spirits "in any dwelling house, in any shed, yard, or inclosure connected with any dwelling house" and 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(6) makes it a felony to possess a still for producing spirits. Penalties include fines up to $10,000 and five years in prison.
Congress reformed spirits taxation after the Civil War to address tax evasion, arguing that home stills were hard to inspect and easy to conceal. They needed the taxes to fund the war effort and other federal priorities.
In 2023, the Hobby Distillers Association, a nonprofit group lobbying for hobby distilling, filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court, arguing the ban exceeds Congress' enumerated powers. A Fort Worth district court found the provisions unconstitutional, and that ruling (Department of Justice v. McNutt) was affirmed by the Fifth Circuit on April 10 of this year, arguing that Congress could criminalize other home-based activities as "tax evasion."
But that same month, the Sixth Circuit ruled in Ream v. Department of the Treasury that the ban was necessary and proper to enforce the spirits tax.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court agrees to review the Reconstruction-era ban on distilling spirits in private homes. -AP
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 19, 2026
The Supreme Court is dealing with the Department of Justice v. McNutt case, where the government appealed the Fifth Circuit's ruling.
The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide if the federal government may bar people from distilling liquor at home in an appeal filed by the Trump administration after the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the prohibition, “while venerable,” violated the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution.
The justices technically held Ream’s separate appeal, which followed a decision from the 6th Circuit that upheld the federal ban. But Ream’s case – and his ability to distill at home – is sure to be influenced by the outcome of the Justice Department appeal. The Supreme Court will likely decide the DOJ case next year, and then send Ream’s appeal back to lower courts for additional review.
The government’s appeal dealt with a Texas group called Hobby Distillers Association and individual members that wanted to distill spirits at home. One of them received a letter from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, part of the Treasury Department, threatening a $500,000 fine.
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We do not yet have a date for when SCOTUS will hear oral arguments in the case, although it will likely happen early next year. It's expected a ruling will be handed down before the end of the Court's October 2026 term, sometime in late June or early July 2027.
— Fenix Ammunition (@FenixAmmunition) October 19, 2026A reminder that the National Firearms Act was the direct result of our federal government passing Prohibition and getting murked in return by the citizenry to the point they were forced to repeal it.
That was the turning point. That's when they realized government actually has… https://t.co/tTU7QWhVaw
This is probably true. And it's a certainty that home distillers still exist. In fact, several people were arrested this year for operating illegal distilleries.
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