Ninth Circuit: Tied-House Trumps First Amendment

Last week the Ninth Circuit Court upheld California's tied-house laws in a case brought by a digital marketing company. This decision reversed a previous ruling, and essentially established that California's tied-house laws do not violate the First Amendment.BACKGROUND. Advertising and marketing company Retail Digital Network (RDN) filed suit against the California ABC, challenging the state's tied-house laws that prohibit alcohol suppliers and/or distributors from giving anything of value to retailers for advertising. Their motivation? RDN installs video ads in retail