Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution

United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition...

, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition

Prohibition in the United States

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

. It was ratified on December 5, 1933.

Text

Background

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution had ushered in a period of time known as "Prohibition", during which the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal. Passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 was the crowning achievement of the temperance movement, but it soon proved highly unpopular. Crime rates soared under Prohibition as gangsters made millions of dollars on illegal alcohol sales, and corruption was rife among law enforcement agencies. In 1932, wealthy industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...

stated in a letter: As more and more Americans opposed the Eighteenth Amendment, movement grew for repeal. However, repeal was complicated by grassroots

Grassroots

A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

. Although the US Constitution provides two methods for ratifying constitutional amendments, only one method had been used until then; that was for ratification by the state legislatures of three-fourths of the states. However, the wisdom of the day was that the state legislators of many states were either beholden to or simply fearful of the temperance lobby. For that reason, when Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

formally proposed the repeal of Prohibition on February 20, 1933 (with the requisite two-thirds having voted in favor in each house; 63 to 21 in the Senate and 289 to 121 in the House), they chose the other ratification method established by Article V

Article Five of the United States Constitution

Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution may be altered. Altering the Constitution consists of proposing an amendment and subsequent ratification....

, that being via state conventions. To date, the Twenty-first is the only amendment ratified by conventions held in the several states, rather than being ratified by the state legislatures. Edward Schoeneck

Edward Schoeneck

Edward Schoeneck was an American lawyer and politician. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1915 to 1918.-Life:...

(the Lt. Governor of New York 1915-1918 and Mayor of Syracuse, NY 1913-1915) also played an important role in the amendment's ratification.

Proposal and ratification

The Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933.

The proposed amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions, specially selected for the purpose. All other amendments have been ratified by state legislatures. It is also the only amendment that was passed for the explicit purpose of repealing an amendment to the Constitution. The Twenty-first Amendment ending national prohibition became officially effective on December 15, though people started drinking openly before that date.

The following states ratified the amendment:

Michigan (April 10, 1933)
Wisconsin (April 25, 1933)
Rhode Island (May 8, 1933)
Wyoming (May 25, 1933)
New Jersey (June 1, 1933)
Delaware (June 24, 1933)
Indiana (June 26, 1933)
Massachusetts (June 26, 1933)
New York (June 27, 1933)
Illinois (July 10, 1933)
Iowa (July 10, 1933)
Connecticut (July 11, 1933)
New Hampshire (July 11, 1933)
California (July 24, 1933)
West Virginia (July 25, 1933)
Arkansas (August 1, 1933)
Oregon (August 7, 1933)
Alabama (August 8, 1933)
Tennessee (August 11, 1933)
Missouri (August 29, 1933)
Arizona (September 5, 1933)
Nevada (September 5, 1933)
Vermont (September 23, 1933)
Colorado (September 26, 1933)
Washington (October 3, 1933)
Minnesota (October 10, 1933)
Idaho (October 17, 1933)
Maryland (October 18, 1933)
Virginia (October 25, 1933)
New Mexico (November 2, 1933)
Florida (November 14, 1933)
Texas (November 24, 1933)
Kentucky (November 27, 1933)
Ohio (December 5, 1933)
Pennsylvania (December 5, 1933)
Utah (December 5, 1933)

Ratification was completed on December 5, 1933. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:

Maine (December 6, 1933)
Montana (August 6, 1934)

In addition, the following state rejected the amendment:

South Carolina (December 4, 1933)

Voters in the following state rejected a convention to consider the amendment:

North Carolina (November 7, 1933)

The following states have not ratified the amendment:

Nebraska
Kansas
Mississippi
Oklahoma
Louisiana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Georgia

Neither Alaska nor Hawaii were states at the time of ratification.

State and local control

The second section bans the importation of alcohol in violation of state or territorial law.
This has been interpreted to give states essentially absolute control over alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

s, and many U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

s still remained "dry

Dry state

A dry state is a U.S. state in which alcohol manufacture or sale is prohibited or tightly restricted. In modern times, no state is completely 'dry'. However, during the temperance movement, many states 'went dry', culminating in nationwide prohibition. Some states, such as North Dakota, entered the...

" (with state prohibition of alcohol) long after its ratification. Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

was the last, remaining dry until 1966; Kansas continued to prohibit public bars until 1987. Many states now delegate the authority over alcohol granted to them by this Amendment to their municipalities

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

or counties

County (United States)

In the United States, a county is a geographic subdivision of a state , usually assigned some governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. Parishes and boroughs are called "county-equivalents" by the U.S...

(or both), which has led to many lawsuit

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

s over First Amendment

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

rights when local governments have tried to revoke liquor license

Liquor license

-Alberta:In Alberta, liquor licences are issued by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission.-United Kingdom:Throughout the United Kingdom, the sale of alcohol is restricted—pubs, restaurants, shops and other premises must be licensed by the local authority. The individual responsible for the...

Court rulings

Section 2 has been the source of every Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

ruling

Precedent

In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...

directly addressing Twenty-first Amendment issues.

Early rulings suggested that Section 2 enabled states to legislate with exceptionally broad constitutional powers. In State Board of Equalization v. Young's Market Co., , the Supreme Court recognized that "Prior to the Twenty-first Amendment it would obviously have been unconstitutional" for a state to require a license and fee to import beer anywhere within its borders. First, the Court held that Section 2 abrogated the right to import intoxicating liquors free of a direct burden on interstate commerce, which otherwise would have been unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause

Commerce Clause

The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." Courts and commentators have tended to...

before passage of the Twenty-first Amendment. In its second holding, the Court rejected an equal protection claim

Equal Protection Clause

The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"...

because "A classification recognized by the Twenty-first Amendment cannot be deemed forbidden by the Fourteenth

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...

." Over time, the Court has significantly curtailed this initial interpretation.

In Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren, , was the first case in which a majority of the United States Supreme Court determined that statutory or administrative sex classifications had to be subjected to an intermediate standard of judicial review...

(1976), the Supreme Court found that analysis under the Equal Protection Clause

Equal Protection Clause

of the Fourteenth Amendment

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

had not been affected by the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment. Although the Court did not specify whether the Twenty-first Amendment could provide an exception to any other constitutional protections outside of the Commerce Clause

Commerce Clause

, it acknowledged "the relevance of the Twenty-first Amendment to other constitutional provisions becomes increasingly doubtful." Likewise, it has been held that Section 2 of the Twenty-first Amendment does not affect the Supremacy Clause

Supremacy Clause

Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, known as the Supremacy Clause, establishes the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Treaties, and Federal Statutes as "the supreme law of the land." The text decrees these to be the highest form of law in the U.S...

or the Establishment Clause

Establishment Clause of the First Amendment

The Establishment Clause is the first of several pronouncements in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, stating, Together with the Free Exercise Clause The Establishment Clause is the first of several pronouncements in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,...

. However, the Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren, , was the first case in which a majority of the United States Supreme Court determined that statutory or administrative sex classifications had to be subjected to an intermediate standard of judicial review...

Court did distinguish two characteristics of state laws permitted by the Amendment, which otherwise might have run afoul of the Constitution. The constitutional issues in each centered or touched upon:(1) "importation of intoxicants, a regulatory area where the State's authority under the Twenty-first Amendment is transparently clear;" and (2) "purely economic matters that traditionally merit only the mildest review under the Fourteenth Amendment." As to the Dormant Commerce Clause

Dormant Commerce Clause

The "Dormant" Commerce Clause, also known as the "Negative" Commerce Clause, is a legal doctrine that courts in the United States have inferred from the Commerce Clause in Article I of the United States Constitution...

in particular, the Court clarified that, while not a pro tanto repeal, the Twenty-First Amendment nonetheless "primarily created an exception to the normal operation of the Commerce Clause

Commerce Clause

."

In South Dakota v. Dole
South Dakota v. Dole
South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court considered federalism and the power of the United States Congress under the Taxing and Spending Clause.-Background:...

(1987), the Supreme Court upheld the withholding of some federal highway funds to South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, because beer with an alcohol content below a specified percentage

Alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....

could be lawfully sold to adults under the age of 21 within the state. In a 7–2 majority opinion by Chief Justice Rehnquist

William Rehnquist

William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States...

, the Court held that the offer of benefits is not coercion that inappropriately invades state sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

. The Twenty-first Amendment could not constitute an "independent constitutional bar" to the spending power

Taxing and Spending Clause

Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, is known as the Taxing and Spending Clause. It is the clause that gives the federal government of the United States its power of taxation...

granted to Congress

United States Congress

under Article I, section 8, clause 1

Article One of the United States Constitution

Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...

of the Constitution. Justice Brennan

William J. Brennan, Jr.

William Joseph Brennan, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990...

, author of the majority opinion in Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren, , was the first case in which a majority of the United States Supreme Court determined that statutory or administrative sex classifications had to be subjected to an intermediate standard of judicial review...

, provided a brief but notable dissent based solely on Section 2. Justice O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...

also dissented, arguing that "the regulation of the age of the purchasers of liquor, just as the regulation of the price at which liquor may be sold, falls squarely within the scope of those powers reserved to the States by the Twenty-first Amendment."

In 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island
44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island
44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, 517 U.S. 484 , was a United States Supreme Court case, which declared that a law banning the advertisement of alcohol except at the place of sale as unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment....

(1996) the Court held states cannot use the Twenty-first Amendment to abridge freedom of speech protections under the First Amendment. Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

imposed a law that prohibited advertisements that disclosed the retail prices of alcoholic beverages sold to the public. In declaring the law unconstitutional, the Court reiterated that "although the Twenty-first Amendment limits the effect of the Dormant Commerce Clause

Dormant Commerce Clause

on a State's regulatory power over the delivery or use of intoxicating beverages within its borders, the Amendment does not license the States to ignore their obligations under other provisions of the Constitution."

Most recently, however, Granholm v. Heald
Granholm v. Heald
Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 , was a court case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in a 5-4 decision that ruled that laws in New York and Michigan that permitted in-state wineries to ship wine directly to consumers, but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same, were...

(2005), held that the Twenty-first Amendment does not overrule the Dormant Commerce Clause

Dormant Commerce Clause

with respect to alcohol sales, and therefore states must treat in-state and out-of-state wineries equally. The Court criticized its earliest rulings on the issue, (including State Board of Equalization v. Young's Market Co.) and promulgated its most limited interpretation to date:

The aim of the Twenty-first Amendment was to allow States to maintain an effective and uniform system for controlling liquor by regulating its transportation, importation, and use. The Amendment did not give States the authority to pass nonuniform laws in order to discriminate against out-of-state goods, a privilege they had not enjoyed at any earlier time.

In a lengthy dissent, Justice Thomas

Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....

argued that the plain meaning of Section 2 removed "any doubt regarding its broad scope, the Amendment simplified the language of the Webb-Kenyon Act and made clear that States could regulate importation destined for in-state delivery free of negative Commerce Clause

Dormant Commerce Clause

restraints." In his historical account, Justice Thomas

Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....

argued the early precedent provided by State Board of Equalization v. Young's Market Co. was indeed correct, and furthered the original intent

Original intent

Original intent is a theory in law concerning constitutional and statutory interpretation. It is frequently—and usually spuriously—used as a synonym for originalism generally; while original intent is indeed one theory in the originalist family, it has some extremely salient differences which has...

of the Twenty-first Amendment to provide a constitutional guarantee authorizing state regulation that might conflict with the Dormant Commerce Clause

Dormant Commerce Clause

(similar to the Webb–Kenyon Act).

External links

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Text

Background

Proposal and ratification

State and local control

Court rulings

See also

External links