Monday, July 11, 2005
The Wine Case
The only highlight of this Supreme Court term was the victory for the Institute for Justice in the ruling which said that states that allow shipments of wine within their borders cannot restrict shipments that originate from wineries of other states. So yesterday with nothing to do my wife and I took a drive to Middleburg and visited the woman who started the case at the Swedenburg Vineyard. What a great decision that turned out to be.
There in a small office just outside of the tasting room we found Juanita Swedenburg. She was clearly happy to meet me as I informed her that I was here to congratulate her on her victory. She came out of the office and answered questions about her experience for several minutes.
Mrs. Swedenburg said that she had fought for 10 years for the ability to ship her products to people in other states. She said that Clint Bolick, one of the founders of IJ who defended her in front of the Supreme Court, used to come by and buy cases of wine from her. Whenever he came she would complain about her problem, even though she had no idea what he did for a living. Once she learned that he was an attorney she kept bugging him to take the case. He refused for 5 years, although she said that in the background IJ was researching the issue. She said she even told her husband at one point that she was going to have to find someone else to fight her cause for her.
Of course, Mr. Bolick did end up defending her and he one of the first decisions he made was to sue in New York because, she said, it was a big important state. She added that Mr. Bolick advised her that most important thing for her to do was to talk to the media about the problem so that they could win first in the court of public opinion. Mrs. Swedenburg was extremely complimentary of the approximately 20 people at the Institute of Justice that worked so hard on her cause. She also added that she liked the Washington Post's coverage of her story.
As we were talking with her a small group of vineyard owners from Australia came in and bowed as they met her. It was a very happy scene and you could see that she was pleased, in a reluctant way, to be receiving all of this attention.
As we were walking out a friend of hers mentioned that at first she did not like receiving the notoriety. This is because the Supreme Court ruling came on the one year anniversary of the death of her husband, who she is reminded of whenever people bring up her victory.
I, of course, see her as a hero.
P.S. Swedenburg Vineyards makes a great Chardonnay, as good a any Californian variety I have tasted.
PermaLink | 5:09 AM |
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There in a small office just outside of the tasting room we found Juanita Swedenburg. She was clearly happy to meet me as I informed her that I was here to congratulate her on her victory. She came out of the office and answered questions about her experience for several minutes.
Mrs. Swedenburg said that she had fought for 10 years for the ability to ship her products to people in other states. She said that Clint Bolick, one of the founders of IJ who defended her in front of the Supreme Court, used to come by and buy cases of wine from her. Whenever he came she would complain about her problem, even though she had no idea what he did for a living. Once she learned that he was an attorney she kept bugging him to take the case. He refused for 5 years, although she said that in the background IJ was researching the issue. She said she even told her husband at one point that she was going to have to find someone else to fight her cause for her.
Of course, Mr. Bolick did end up defending her and he one of the first decisions he made was to sue in New York because, she said, it was a big important state. She added that Mr. Bolick advised her that most important thing for her to do was to talk to the media about the problem so that they could win first in the court of public opinion. Mrs. Swedenburg was extremely complimentary of the approximately 20 people at the Institute of Justice that worked so hard on her cause. She also added that she liked the Washington Post's coverage of her story.
As we were talking with her a small group of vineyard owners from Australia came in and bowed as they met her. It was a very happy scene and you could see that she was pleased, in a reluctant way, to be receiving all of this attention.
As we were walking out a friend of hers mentioned that at first she did not like receiving the notoriety. This is because the Supreme Court ruling came on the one year anniversary of the death of her husband, who she is reminded of whenever people bring up her victory.
I, of course, see her as a hero.
P.S. Swedenburg Vineyards makes a great Chardonnay, as good a any Californian variety I have tasted.
PermaLink | 5:09 AM |
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