The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. As many Americans continued to drink despite the amendment, Prohibition gave rise to a profitable black market for alcohol, fueling the rise of organized crime. v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc. Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Medicinal Liquor Prescriptions Act of 1933, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twenty-first_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution&oldid=974373080, Amendments to the United States Constitution, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 August 2020, at 16:44. The Twenty-first Amendment ending national prohibition also became effective on December 5, 1933. The objective we seek through a national policy is the education of every citizen towards a greater temperance throughout the nation. [1] In 1932, wealthy industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. stated in a letter: When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. "[15] Over time, the Court has significantly curtailed this initial interpretation. However, repeal was complicated by grassroots politics. Section 2. [16] Likewise, it has been held that Section 2 of the Twenty-first Amendment does not affect the Supremacy Clause[17] or the Establishment Clause. The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed by Congress on February 20, 1933, and was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 5, 1933. Section 2 has been the source of every Supreme Court ruling directly addressing Twenty-first Amendment issues. 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.[29]. It is the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions, specially selected for the purpose. 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 before passage of the Twenty-first Amendment. The Acting Secretary of State William Phillips certified the amendment as having been passed by the required three-fourths of the states just 17 minutes after the passage of the amendment by the Utah convention. States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. Nonetheless, several states continue to closely regulate the distribution of alcohol. Section 1 of the Twenty-first Amendment expressly repeals the Eighteenth Amendment. The proposed amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933. The subsequent passage of the Volstead Act established federal enforcement of the nationwide prohibition on alcohol. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. In Craig v. Boren (1976), the Supreme Court found that analysis under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment had not been affected by the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment. [25] Justice O'Connor 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. 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, it acknowledged "the relevance of the Twenty-first Amendment to other constitutional provisions becomes increasingly doubtful". [19] As to the Dormant Commerce Clause 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". "[7][8] The end of prohibition was thought to be responsible for the creation of a half million jobs. The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, the result of years of advocacy by the temperance movement. California Retail Liquor Dealers Assn. Section 3. [22] In a 7–2 majority opinion by Chief Justice Rehnquist, the Court held that the offer of benefits is not coercion that inappropriately invades state sovereignty. Section 2 bans the importation of alcohol into states and territories that have laws prohibiting the importation or consumption of alcohol. CRS Annotated Constitution: Twenty first Amendment, Article of amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enumerating repeal of the eighteenth amendment (prohibition of alcohol), Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, alcohol content below a specified percentage, List of alcohol laws of the United States by state, Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, "Ratification of Constitutional Amendments", Universal Newspaper Newsreel from late 1933, "Amendments to the Constitution of the United States", "Something to celebrate: Repeal of Prohibition", "Restrictions still rule Kansas industry". Amendment XXI Section 1. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. Section 3. 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"[14] for a state to require a license and fee to import beer anywhere within its borders.

Section 2. Several states continued to be "dry states" in the years after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, but in 1966 the last dry state (Mississippi) legalized the consumption of alcohol. However, the wisdom of the day was that the lawmakers of many states were either beholden to or simply fearful of the temperance lobby. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment [citation needed]. The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. Although the U.S. Constitution provides two methods for ratifying constitutional amendments, only one method had been used up until that time; and that was for ratification by the state legislatures of three-fourths of the states. Section 2 has occasionally arisen as an issue in Supreme Court cases that touch on the Commerce Clause. Ratified December 5, 1933. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. It is unique among the 27 amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a prior amendment, as well as being the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions. Most recently, however, Granholm v. Heald (2005) held that the Twenty-first Amendment does not overrule the Dormant Commerce Clause with respect to alcohol sales, and therefore states must treat in-state and out-of-state wineries equally. liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. It is also the only amendment that was approved for the explicit purpose of repealing a previously existing amendment to the Constitution. [15] In its second holding, the Court rejected an equal protection claim because "A classification recognized by the Twenty-first Amendment cannot be deemed forbidden by the Fourteenth. Early rulings suggested that Section 2 enabled states to legislate with exceptionally broad constitutional powers. [27] Rhode Island imposed a law that prohibited advertisements disclosing the retail prices of alcoholic beverages sold to the public. [20], In South Dakota v. Dole (1987), the Supreme Court upheld the withholding of some federal highway funds[21] to South Dakota, because beer with an alcohol content below a specified percentage could be lawfully sold to adults under the age of 21 within the state. Mississippi was the last, remaining dry until 1966;[12] Kansas continued to prohibit public bars until 1987.