Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas

Tennessee law required liquor-license applicants to reside in the state for two years and renewing licensees for ten years, with all shareholders of a corporate applicant also required to be residents; after the state attorney general opined the law was unconstitutional, the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission stopped enforcing it, prompting the Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association (defendant), representing in-state liquor stores, to threaten suit if licenses were granted to nonresident applicants. The commission's executive director, Russell Thomas (plaintiff), sued for a declaratory judgment resolving the dispute, and the lower courts struck down the residency requirement as violating the Commerce Clause; the Association appealed, arguing the Twenty-First Amendment let Tennessee limit liquor licenses to residents.