NEWS OF GRAPES AND WINES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
Judge says allowing sales at pharmacies but not grocery stores violates Equal Protection Clause
ouisville, Ky.—Kentucky's 1938 statute prohibiting the issu- ance of a license to sell wine and distilled spirits in grocery stores or gas stations was found to be in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. John G. Heyburn II, chief district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Louisville, handed down the ruling with a lengthy memorandum opinion. "The state undoubt- edly views the consumption of wine and liquor as potentially more
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Court OKs Kentucky Market Wine Sales L
dangerous than beer because of their higher potencies," he wrote. "However, it does not explain why a grocery-selling drugstore like Walgreens may sell wine and liquor, but a pharmaceutical-selling grocery store like Kroger cannot."
winesandvines.com
The lawsuit was brought against the Kentucky ABC by the Food with Wine Coalition. The decision will have no effect on Kentucky's three-tier distribution system. —Hudson Cattell
Learn more: Search keywords "Kentucky grocery."
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