Wine sellers look to Seventh Circuit to overturn Illinois liquor law

A Seventh Circuit panel heard arguments Thursday from Full Pull Wines, a Seattle retailer challenging an Illinois law barring out-of-state wine sellers from shipping directly to Illinois consumers, while in-state retailers face no such restriction. Attorney James Tanford argued the 2018 case Lebamoff v. Rauner already found this discriminatory and that the law hasn't changed since.

Judge Ilana Rovner ran through a list of odd state liquor rules, from room-temperature Oklahoma beer to Utah's opaque bartending barriers, asking why Illinois's rule should fare differently. Tanford noted those other examples treated in-state and out-of-state sellers identically, unlike Illinois's law.

Judge Frank Easterbrook pressed on whether Illinois's system differs meaningfully from Indiana's, which the same circuit upheld in Chicago Wine Co. v. Braun. Illinois assistant attorney general Sam Horan defended the law by citing that precedent; the panel did not indicate when it would rule.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.