S & S Liquor Mart, Inc. v. Pastore

497 A.2d 729, 54 U.S.L.W. 2157, 12 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1236, 1985 R.I. LEXIS 585
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedAugust 26, 1985
Docket82-347-Appeal
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 497 A.2d 729 (S & S Liquor Mart, Inc. v. Pastore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
S & S Liquor Mart, Inc. v. Pastore, 497 A.2d 729, 54 U.S.L.W. 2157, 12 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1236, 1985 R.I. LEXIS 585 (R.I. 1985).

Opinions

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

This appeal was brought by S & S Liquor Mart, Inc. (S & S Liquor), to review a decision of a Superior Court justice denying and dismissing its action for declaratory and injunctive relief. As its name suggests, S & S Liquor is a retail alcoholic-beverage dealer. A class-A liquor licensee, S & S Liquor is a Rhode Island corporation with its principal place of business located on Granite Street in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island, which town borders the state of Connecticut. The defendant is Louis Pastore (Pastore) in his capacity as liquor-control administrator for the State of Rhode Island.1

[731]*731The facts of this case are not in dispute, On January 1, 1982, the State of Conneeti-cut, through P.A. 81-294, repealed its statutes that had established minimum markups on liquor sales. According to S & S Liquor, the removal of these minimum-pricing requirements resulted in the immediate advertising of prices of alcoholic beverages by Connecticut retail alcoholic-beverage dealers;2 these advertisements appeared both in the New London Day, a newspaper published in New London, Connecticut, and circulated in Connecticut and Westerly, and the Westerly Sun, a newspaper located in Westerly and circulated both in Westerly and in Connecticut.

Matthew J. Serra, the president of S & S Liquor, then contacted Pastore and advised him that he would like to advertise prices of S & S Liquor’s alcoholic beverages, at least in Connecticut newspapers. Pastore responded by informing Serra that his license would be suspended if he advertised prices of alcoholic beverages in any publications, either in Rhode Island or in Connecticut. Following receipt of this commu-niqué from Pastore, S & S Liquor instituted an action challenging the constitutionality of G.L.1956 (1976 Reenactment) § 3-8-7,3 the statute that, among other things, prohibits Rhode Island retail liquor licensees from advertising the prices of alcoholic beverages. S & S Liquor sought to have the statute declared invalid as a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the commerce clause, and the Sherman AntiTrust Act. The trial justice was not persuaded, and this appeal ensued.

Jt js befitting, before undertaking our analysis of the issues in this appeal, to shed some light on the controversy relating to the impact of the Twenty-first Amendment upon the states’ authority to regulate alcoholic beverages under their traditional police power standing alone.4 The trial justice, in his decision denying all relief to plaintiff, stated that the Twenty-first Amendment “grants the states virtually complete control over whether to permit importation or sale of liquor and how to structure the liquor distribution system.” S & S Liquor concedes that this statement by the trial justice is supported by California Retail Liquor Dealers Ass’n v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc., 445 U.S. 97, 110, 100 S.Ct. 937, 946, 63 L.Ed.2d 233, 246 (1980), but then asserts, vigorously, that the court misapplied the Twenty-first Amendment to the facts of this case because of its failure to consider other constitutional rights and provisions.

For many, enactment of the Twenty-first Amendment occurred so long before their respective births that the circumstances that occasioned it are an obscure part of history to which they may have difficulty [732]*732relating. Succinctly, the Twenty-first Amendment was as much a reaction to the failure of prohibition as prohibition was to the problems of excessive alcohol consumption.

Section 1 of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment’s prohibition of the manufacture, sale, or transportation of liquor. Section 2 of the Twenty-first Amendment states:

“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 2 has been described as “unique in the constitutional scheme in that it represents the only express grant of power to the states, thereby creating a fundamental restructuring of the constitutional scheme as it relates to one product— intoxicating liquors.” Castlewood International Corp. v. Simon, 596 F.2d 638, 642 (5th Cir.1979), vacated and remanded sub nom., 446 U.S. 949, 100 S.Ct. 2914, 64 L.Ed.2d 806 (1980), panel opinion reinstated, 626 F.2d 1200 (5th Cir.1980). Justice Rehnquist has recognized this section as “conferring something more than the normal state authority over public health, welfare and morals.” California v. La-Rue, 409 U.S. 109, 114, 93 S.Ct. 390, 395, 34 L.Ed.2d 342, 349-50 (1972). Although it is true that “there is no bright line between federal and state powers over liquor,” Midcal Aluminum, Inc., 445 U.S. at 110, 100 S.Ct. at 946, 63 L.Ed.2d at 246, it is also clear that Rhode Island, under its general police power, has a substantial interest in the health and welfare of its citizens, including the stability of its families and their safety while on Rhode Island highways, all of which are clearly affected by the abuse of alcohol.5 “Added to this already substantial interest is the power of [Rhode Island] under the Twenty-first Amendment to regulate the sale, and the incidents thereof, of alcoholic beverages, and to protect its citizens from the evils incident to alcohol.” Oklahoma Telecasters Association v. Crisp, 699 F.2d 490, 500 (10th Cir.1983) (Emphasis added.), rev’d on other grounds sub nom., 467 U.S. —, 104 S.Ct. 2694, 81 L.Ed.2d 580 (1984). Although we recognize that the Twenty-first Amendment is but one part of the Federal Constitution that must be read in conjunction with the rest of the Constitution, Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp., 377 U.S. 324, 332, 84 S.Ct. 1293, 1298, 12 L.Ed.2d 350, 356 (1964), and that this amendment did not grant the states the authority to abrogate individual rights secured by the Fourteenth Amendment, Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 206-09, 97 S.Ct. 451, 461-63, 50 L.Ed.2d 397, 412-14 (1976), we also note that, because of the Twenty-first Amendment, a state statute regulating the sale of alcoholic beverages is entitled to an “added presumption in favor of [its] validity.” New York State Liquor Authority v. Bellanca, 452 U.S. 714, 718, 101 S.Ct. 2599, 2602, 69 L.Ed.2d 357, 361 (1981) (per curiam) (quoting California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. at 118, 93 S.Ct. at 397, 34 L.Ed.2d at 352). With these guidelines in mind, we now proceed to an analysis of the issues before us.

Initially, S & S Liquor challenges § 3-8-7 as an unconstitutional restraint on the exercise of its First Amendment rights.

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S & S Liquor Mart, Inc. v. Pastore
497 A.2d 729 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1985)

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497 A.2d 729, 54 U.S.L.W. 2157, 12 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1236, 1985 R.I. LEXIS 585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-s-liquor-mart-inc-v-pastore-ri-1985.