A Federal Court Just Ruled the Home Distilling Ban Unconstitutional (Here's What Actually Changed)
Six months ago, almost to the day, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling that every home distiller should know about — and that almost nobody's explaining correctly. On April 10, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided McNutt v. U.S. Department of Justice . The court held that the federal ban on home distilling — a law dating back to 1868 — exceeds Congress's authority under the Taxation Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause. It affirmed the district court's judgment and its injunction against enforcement. That's a real, significant win. It's also not what a lot of headlines are making it sound like. Here's what actually changed, and what didn't. What changed: In Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi — the three states under the Fifth Circuit's jurisdiction — the federal government's own authority to ban home distilling for personal consumption has been struck down by an appeals court, and a request to ...