Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn. v. Thomas

Decided June 26, 2019. Samuel A. Alito Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 18-96 · 588 U.S. 504 (2019) · Cited 128 times

Holding

Tennessee’s 2-year durational-residency requirement applicable to retail liquor store license applicants violates the Commerce Clause and is not saved by the Twenty-first Amendment.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

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.

• Granholm v. Heald · 544 U.S. 460 (2005)
• Bacchus Imports, Ltd. v. Dias · 468 U.S. 263 (1984)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• State Bd. of Equalization of Cal. v. Young's Market Co. · 299 U.S. 59 (1936)
• Healy v. Beer Institute · 491 U.S. 324 (1989)
• Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. · 377 U.S. 324 (1964)
• Walling v. Michigan · 116 U.S. 446 (1886)
• Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Authority · 476 U.S. 573 (1986)
• Clark Distilling Co. v. Western Maryland Railway Co. · 242 U.S. 311 (1917)
• Rhodes v. Iowa · 170 U.S. 412 (1898)
• Mahoney v. Joseph Triner Corp. · 304 U.S. 401 (1938)
• 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island · 517 U.S. 484 (1996)
• Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp · 467 U.S. 691 (1984)
• Thurlow v. Massachusetts · 46 U.S. 504 (1847)
• Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison · 520 U.S. 564 (1997)
• Bowman v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. · 125 U.S. 465 (1888)
• 324 Liquor Corp. v. Duffy · 479 U.S. 335 (1987)
• California Retail Liquor Dealers Assn. v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc. · 445 U.S. 97 (1980)
• North Dakota v. United States · 495 U.S. 423 (1990)
• Brown v. Maryland · 25 U.S. 419 (1827)
• Woodruff v. Parham · 75 U.S. 123 (1869)
• Gibbons v. Ogden · 22 U.S. 1 (1824)
• Brennan v. Titusville · 153 U.S. 289 (1894)
• Wisconsin v. Constantineau · 400 U.S. 433 (1971)
• Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Ore. · 511 U.S. 93 (1994)
• Hughes v. Oklahoma · 441 U.S. 322 (1979)
• Maine v. Taylor · 477 U.S. 131 (1986)
• New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann · 285 U.S. 262 (1932)
• New Energy Co. of Indiana v. Limbach · 486 U.S. 269 (1988)
• Western & Southern Life Ins. Co. v. State Bd. of Equalization of Cal. · 451 U.S. 648 (1981)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2019). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).