Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Authority

476 U.S. 573 · Decided June 3, 1986 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Authority was decided on June 3, 1986 by a vote of 5–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “State or local business regulation” in the Economic Activity area. SCDB records that the Court declared a state or territorial law, regulation or constitutional provision unconstitutional.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Did not participate: William J. Brennan Jr..

Full case caption

Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Authority

SCDB identifiers: case 1985-099, docket 1985-099-01.

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Same Term, same area (Economic Activity)

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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error