TRI County Wholesale Distributors, Inc. v. Labatt USA Operating Co.

OPINION

BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

After Prohibition ended in 1933 when the Twenty-First Amendment was rati-fled, most states adopted a system for distributing alcoholic beverages that consists of three tiers: suppliers, distributors, and retailers. Suppliers manufacture or import alcoholic beverages, and they must sell their products to state-licensed distributors. Those distributors then sell the products to retailers, who sell them to consumers. While many economists are skeptical about the public benefits of this regulatory scheme, Ohio continues to operate under a three-tier system.

One feature…