Hobby Distillers Oppose Ban Through Backdoor of Tax Policy

A ban on home distilling implemented through the tax code is an unconstitutional expansion of federal power, a group of hobbyists argued in a brief filed Friday.

A government ban on home distilleries doesn’t just discourage home distilling by raising taxes, the Hobby Distillers Association argued in its brief. Instead, “it is a command—and, crucially, a command that raises no revenue.”

“Such commands may be exercised through the commerce power but not through the taxing power,” it said in the brief.

The HDA—which says it counts 1,300 people as members and is a trade name of a Keller, Texas-based distillery ...