http://news.com.com/2100-1017-976900.html Courts spurn state laws on caskets, wine By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com December 11, 2002, 10:30 AM PT Two recent court decisions could help boost Internet commerce by curtailing states' abilities to enforce protectionist laws. Both courtroom victories arose out of lawsuits brought by the Institute for Justice (IJ), a public interest law firm in Washington, D.C. And in both cases, courts ruled that state laws were unreasonably protectionist and were designed to hinder, not help, competition. Steve Simpson, an IJ attorney, said his organization hopes to establish a two-pronged court precedent. "First, governments shouldn't be permitted to favor certain industries or businesses over others," Simpson said. "And second, they shouldn't be able to erect irrational barriers to entry. That's the common theme running through these cases." On Tuesday, a federal judge barred New York state from enforcing a law preventing wineries from shipping to Empire State residents. Unless appealed by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the order from Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of New York clears the way for the state's 19 million residents to order alcohol online and via mail order. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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