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The U.S. Alcohol Ban Is Now Live: Who's Exempt, Who's Shut Out, and What It Means for Your Wallet

  At 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 29, the United States stopped letting most packaged Canadian beer, wine, cider and spirits through the border. Not taxed. Blocked. It's the sharpest step yet in the alcohol front of the trade war, and it lands on a very uneven set of shoulders. Two weeks ago we walked through what was coming. Now that it's live, here's what the ban actually covers, who slips through, and what it does (and doesn't) mean for your own budget. What took effect The White House announced the measures on Sept. 8, after Canada's own retaliation tariffs kicked in. The U.S. framed them as a response to Canada's treatment of American dairy, autos and alcohol, and to provinces pulling U.S. liquor from their shelves. The ban covers packaged Canadian beer (including non-alcoholic), wine, cider and spirits, plus whey products, molasses and motorcycles over 800cc. Many of the alcohol products were already facing a 50% U.S. tariff imposed in August; the ban ...

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Trump Wins Colorado Ballot Case at Supreme Court, Defying Insurrection Charge

 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that former President Donald Trump can appear on Colorado’s primary ballot for the 2024 presidential election, overturning a lower court decision that had disqualified him under a constitutional provision that bars insurrectionists from holding office.

The justices unanimously held that Colorado, or any other state, cannot invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War, to remove presidential candidates from the ballot without congressional action first. Section 3 states that any person who has taken an oath to the Constitution and has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to its enemies, is ineligible to hold any federal or state office.

The ruling came a day before Super Tuesday, when Colorado and 15 other states will hold their primaries. Trump is seeking to regain the Republican nomination and challenge Democratic President Kamala Harris, who defeated him in 2020. Trump’s campaign has been marred by allegations that he incited the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of Harris’s victory.

A Denver trial court judge had ruled that Trump had engaged in insurrection on that day, but was not disqualified from the ballot because he was not an officer of the United States at the time. The Colorado Supreme Court reversed that decision in a 4-3 ruling, finding that Trump was an officer of the United States when he took the oath of office in 2017, and that his conduct on Jan. 6 amounted to insurrection.

The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, saying that Section 3 requires a prior determination by Congress that a person has engaged in insurrection, and that states cannot make that determination on their own. The court also said that allowing states to remove presidential candidates from the ballot under Section 3 would undermine the Framers’ vision of a federal government directly responsible to the people.

The court’s decision is a major victory for Trump, who has faced similar challenges in other states, such as Illinois and Maine, where he has also been barred from the ballot. Trump has denied any responsibility for the Capitol riot, and has claimed that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him.


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