Summary: Tennessee recently passed a law requiring those that apply for permits to sell beer to be a citizen for at least year but the Attorney General is criticizing the law.
The Tennessee attorney general is calling a state law restricting who can sell beer as discriminatory and unconstitutional. The law placed a timeframe on when immigrants could sell beer at a store, restaurant, or other establishment.
See Post Office to Deliver Beer Wine and Spirits.
The law went into effect in July stopping counties from giving permits for the resale of beer to those who haven’t been a U.S. citizen for at least one year. Attorney General Herbert Slatery called the time frame arbitrary and a violation of the rights of citizens because of their national origin. His opinion states, “We are not aware of and cannot conceive of a compelling state interest indiscriminating between naturalized citizens and birthright citizens, or for that matter between naturalized citizens who have been citizens for 366 days and naturalized citizens who have been citizens for 364 days for the purposes of selling beer.”
See Anheuser-Busch Sued for Watering Down Beer.
The sponsor of the bill, Republican Rep. Pat Marsh created the law so that the Lincoln County Beer Board could conduct background checks on anyone applying for a permit. He claims this is hard to do when the applicant “can barely speak English” and has not been in the country for a year. Very few members of the states government voted against the law.
Read Pig in Australia Steals 18 Beers from Campers, Gets Drunk, Fights Cow to read a crazy story.
The Tennessee attorney general has frequently told state lawmakers that citizenship cannot be used for selling beer. There have been six different times since 1977 that the office has called a law requiring citizenship unconstitutional.
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