A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to a Missouri law from the Prohibition era that requires state residency for alcohol wholesalers.
KWMU-FM reports that the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a legal challenge by Southern Wine & Spirits of Miami.
Missouri has a three-tiered alcohol distribution system in which producers engage a distributor that provides alcohol to retailers. The appeals court upheld an earlier ruling by the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City.
Alcohol companies tried unsuccessfully in the most recent legislative session to revise the state's alcohol distribution system in a heavily financed lobbying effort dubbed by some in Jefferson City as the "liquor wars."
