Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Authority

Decided June 3, 1986. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-2030 · 476 U.S. 573 (1986) · Cited 661 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Baldwin v. G. A. F. Seelig, Inc. · 294 U.S. 511 (1935)
• Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. v. Hostetter · 384 U.S. 35 (1966)
• City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey · 437 U.S. 617 (1978)
• California Retail Liquor Dealers Assn. v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc. · 445 U.S. 97 (1980)
• Edgar v. Mite Corp. · 457 U.S. 624 (1982)
• Bacchus Imports, Ltd. v. Dias · 468 U.S. 263 (1984)
• Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. · 377 U.S. 324 (1964)
• Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc. · 397 U.S. 137 (1970)
• Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona Ex Rel. Sullivan · 325 U.S. 761 (1945)
• Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp · 467 U.S. 691 (1984)
• Raymond Motor Transportation, Inc. v. Rice · 434 U.S. 429 (1978)
• United States v. Frankfort Distilleries, Inc. · 324 U.S. 293 (1945)
• Nippert v. City of Richmond · 327 U.S. 416 (1946)
• United States v. Vuitch · 402 U.S. 62 (1971)
• Ziffrin, Inc. v. Reeves · 308 U.S. 132 (1939)
• State Bd. of Equalization of Cal. v. Young's Market Co. · 299 U.S. 59 (1936)
• New England Power Co. v. New Hampshire · 455 U.S. 331 (1982)
• Shafer v. Farmers Grain Co. of Embden · 268 U.S. 189 (1925)
• Mahoney v. Joseph Triner Corp. · 304 U.S. 401 (1938)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Healy v. Beer Institute · 491 U.S. 324 (1989)
• Granholm v. Heald · 544 U.S. 460 (2005)
• Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn. v. Thomas · 588 U.S. 504 (2019)
• National Pork Producers Council v. Ross · 598 U.S. 356 (2023)
• C & a Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown · 511 U.S. 383 (1994)
• Reynoldsville Casket Co. v. Hyde · 514 U.S. 749 (1995)
• General Motors Corp. v. Tracy · 519 U.S. 278 (1997)
• Wyoming v. Oklahoma · 502 U.S. 437 (1992)
• Northwest Central Pipeline Corp. v. State Corporation Comm'n of Kan. · 489 U.S. 493 (1989)
• United States v. Lopez · 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
• CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America · 481 U.S. 69 (1987)
• Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison · 520 U.S. 564 (1997)
• Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt · 504 U.S. 334 (1992)
• Bendix Autolite Corp. v. Midwesco Enterprises, Inc. · 486 U.S. 888 (1988)
• United States v. American Bar Endowment · 477 U.S. 105 (1986)
• South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. · 585 U.S. 162 (2018)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).