Archive Report
Archive Report
The Prohibition Issue Before the Supreme Court
The question of the legal validity of the 18th amendment and, hence, of the constitutionality of the National Prohibition Act and its enforcement, is raised in the case of United States v. Sprague and Howey, now awaiting decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. Oral arguments in the case were heard by the Supreme Court on January 21, 1931, and a decision by the Court is believed to be imminent. Public interest in the constitutional character of prohibition has been enhanced, meanwhile, by the report of the Wickersham Commission and the suggestion of a majority of its members that the language of the 18th amendment be revised so as to give Congress the power to “regulate ...