Idaho Reverses Course, Agrees to Allow Sale of Five Wives Vodka®
After the Idaho State Liquor Division director was informed that a Utah-based
distillery was considering suing the agency and state for refusing to allow
the sale of Five Wives Vodka® in Idaho, the agency apparently decided that
the product will now be allowed on state liquor store shelves and in bars.
Discussing Idaho’s initial rejection of the distillery’s application, Director Jeff
Anderson reportedly acknowledged that “people of the LDS faith” would not
likely be shopping in liquor stores; still, he was quoted as saying, “that does
not mean that we are not sensitive to them.”
Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University Law School public-interest
law professor, had informed Anderson of the distillery’s intent to sue the
agency and the state if the director (i) refused to reverse his rejection of
bar requests for Five Wives Vodka® special orders, and (ii) based a refusal to
include the product on the state’s “general list,” when the company renewed
its application, on religious objections to its packaging. According to a news
source, Turley successfully represented the family featured on the cable TV
show “Sister Wives,” a reality program documenting a polygamous lifestyle, by
asking that the state not criminalize the family’s conduct; prosecutors have
apparently announced that they will not bring criminal charges against the
family.
In his June 6, 2012, letter, Turley asserted that the state had not only unfairly refused to allow Idaho consumers to buy and bars to sell his client’s product, but state officials allegedly disparaged the company and the product by referring to it as “low class.” The letter claimed that the agency’s actions were arbitrary and capricious and “constitute flagrant violations of the United States Constitution.” Turley indicated that any lawsuit against the state would include claims of interference with interstate commerce; establishment of religion; and denial of free speech, due process and equal protection. According to Turley, “Businesses and citizens in Idaho have asked to buy ‘Five Wives Vodka,’ and this small American business wants to sell that product in your state. The only barrier has been neither market demand nor consumer preference, but the arbitrary imposition of religious objections to the packaging of the product. Such a basis would not satisfy the lowest standard of scrutiny in a constitutional challenge.” See Ad Age, May 29, 2012; Inside Counsel and The Salt Lake Tribune, June 7, 2012.
