McNutt v. US Dept of Justice

── McNutt v. US Dept of Justice ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: April 10, 2026 Category: Civil Rights Case: 24-10760 Document: 116-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/10/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED April 10, 2026 No. 24-10760 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Scott McNutt, Plaintiff—Appellee, Rick Morris; Hobby Distillers Association; Thomas O. Cowdrey, III; John Prince, III, Plaintiffs—Appellees/Cross-Appellants, versus US Department of Justice; Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Defendants—Appellants/Cross-Appellees. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas USDC No. 4:23-CV-1221 ______________________________ Before Jones and Graves, Circuit Judges, and Rodriguez, District Judge. * Edith Hollan Jones, Circuit Judge: _____________________ * District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, sitting by designation. Case: 24-10760 Document: 116-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/10/2026 No. 24-10760 For more than 150 years, Congress has prohibited home distilleries as an adjunct to the law establishing a federal excise tax on distilled spirits. See Act of July 20, 1868, ch. 186, §§ 1–109, 15 Stat. 125, 125–168 (imposing excise taxes on distilled spirits and tobacco). In December 2023, a non-profit organization and several of its members challenged the law as unconstitutional. 1 The district court agreed with them. We concur that, while venerable, the statute violates the Constitution’s Taxation and Necessary and Proper clauses. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cls. 1, 18. The district court’s judgment and injunction are AFFIRMED in part and REVERSED in part. I. Background Plaintiff Rick Morris is a connoisseur of bourbon whisky and a certified bourbon steward, certified because he mastered the art of tasting spirits and learned the science behind distilling and aging alcoholic spirits. Morris wants to distill bourbon at home, where he has ample space in the backyard and side yard to engage in distilling “a safe distance from [his] house and other houses.” As the owner and operator of a company that manufactures stills for the legally approved distillation and re-distillation of alcohol, he could easily undertake this venture. He would distill at home to experiment with bourbon recipes and try them out on his brother and friends. Pursuing this passion, Morris founded the Hobby Distillers Association (“HDA”), a membership organization that “encourage[s] the legalization of at-home hobby distilling.” The HDA claimed more than _____________________ 1 About a month later, a different plaintiff filed a separate lawsuit in Ohio, challenging the exact statute at issue here. Complaint, Ream v. DOT, No. 2:24-CV-364 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 30, 2024), Dkt. No. 1. That case is currently pending before the Sixth Circuit. Notice of Appeal, Ream v. DOT, No. 25-3259, (6th Cir. Apr. 8, 2025), Dkt. No. 1.