As far back as the Whiskey Rebellion, homemade distilled spirits have been a target of the U.S. government’s ire—a trend that continued through Prohibition and has persisted to the present day. While home brewing and home winemaking were legalized decades ago, home distilling remains prohibited under federal law. But is this often-overlooked federal ban constitutional? R Street Institute hosted a special Repeal Day event that featured a discussion of Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury, Buckeye’s case challenging the federal ban.

Speakers: Andrew Grossman, The Buckeye Institute; Kevin Kosar, American Enterprise Institute; and Max Watman. Moderated by Jarrett Dieterle, resident senior fellow, R Street Institute.

In The Wall Street Journal, The Buckeye Institute calls on President-elect Trump to protect Americans from government censorship. “Donald Trump has a historic opportunity to combat censorship by federal bureaucrats…On day one, he should issue an executive order dictating that if federal employees encourage private companies to censor users’ First Amendment-protected activities, they must report these requests to the Office of Management and Budget. The OMB would then be required to publish these reports online, redacting information as necessary.”

In The Wall Street Journal, The Buckeye Institute warns of threats to the independence of the U.S. Supreme Court, writing, “As Alexander Hamilton observed, the ‘independence of the judges’ is ‘requisite to guard the Constitution and the rights of individuals’ from the actions of ‘designing men’ set on ‘dangerous innovations in the government.’ The political branches have forgone their own obligation to follow the Constitution, which makes the check of review by an independent judiciary all the more essential. Ms. Harris and Mr. Schumer would put it under threat.”

The Buckeye Institute recently filed Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury on behalf of John Ream of Licking County, Ohio, asking the court to overturn the federal government’s ban on the home distilling of spirited beverages and arguing that this ban exceeds Congressional authority and violates the Tenth Amendment. Robert Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, discussed this important case at a forum hosted by The Federalist Society.

In The Wall Street Journal, The Buckeye Institute’s senior legal fellow Andrew M. Grossman argues that now is the time for the Supreme Court of the United States to end the misguided doctrine of Chevron deference, through which the courts defer to federal agencies’ interpretation of “ambiguous” statutes. Buckeye filed an amicus brief in support of federal courts reclaiming their proper role as interpreter of laws—ambiguous or otherwise.

The Buckeye Institute testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, a subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. In his testimony, Andrew M. Grossman, a senior legal fellow at The Buckeye Institute, highlighted the “use and abuse of ‘sue and settle’ tactics in litigation against the government,” which Grossman noted, “seeks to compel [federal] agency action, set agency priorities, and (in some instances) influence the content of regulations or other agency actions.”
 

In The Wall Street Journal, Andrew M. Grossman, a senior legal fellow at The Buckeye Institute, and David B. Rivkin Jr., criticize pressure that New York state financial regulators are putting on insurers to “sever business relationships with gun promotion groups.” Grossman and Rivkin write, “It’s the classic threat of B-movie mobsters: Nice business you got there, it’d be a shame if something happened to it. Government shouldn’t operate like that, but it too often does, sometimes to evade the Constitution’s limits on its power.”

The Buckeye Institute announced that Andrew M. Grossman, a nationally-recognized attorney and constitutional scholar, has been named a senior legal fellow at The Buckeye Institute. Grossman is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of BakerHostetler LLP, where he serves as the appellate and major motions team co-leader. “Andrew Grossman adds an extraordinarily strategic perspective and tremendous capacity to our growing Legal Center. Few lawyers are more respected and trusted, and his experience and expertise will be invaluable assets to Buckeye’s work and the clients we serve.”

In The Wall Street Journal, Andrew M. Grossman, a senior legal fellow at The Buckeye Institute, and David B. Rivkin Jr., look at the question of independent state legislatures, writing, “The Supreme Court considers on Wednesday whether the Constitution’s Elections Clause means what it says—that ‘the times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.’”