The Supreme Court of the United States has this week
decided in favour of the constitutionality of the Federal Prohibition Amendment, and of the accompanying Volstead Enforcement Bill, which takes from the individual States the right to decide for themselves what degree of alcohol forms an intoxicating beverage. The legislatures of New York and New Jersey recently legalized the brewing of light beers containing by weight as much as 2.75 per cent. of alcohol, but these provisions are now invalidated by the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Bill. The Supreme Court has also overruled the plea of New Jersey and Rhode Island that the Eighteenth Amendment was uncon- stitutional as contravening the sovereign rights of the separate States. The fact that 45 out of the 48 States have already ratified the Prohibition Amendment without any qualms as to its constitutional aspect is the best proof that American opinion will accept the judgment of the Supreme Court as confirming the popular decision in favour of Prohibition.
