Hebert v. Louisiana

Background

The case involves people in Louisiana accused of manufacturing intoxicating liquor for beverage use. They were already under federal indictment and on bail awaiting federal trial when Louisiana arrested and tried them under state law. The defendants argued the state court lacked authority because federal law and a federal court’s pending case should block state prosecution, and they also disputed the length of the state sentence imposed.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether the same act can be punished by both federal and state governments. It explained that the Eighteenth Amendment allows both federal and state laws to criminalize making beverage liquor. Where the same conduct violates both laws, a person commits two separate offenses and can be prosecuted by each sovereign. The Court said the federal provision cited by the defendants (§ 256) did not prevent a state court from trying state-law offenses. The Court also accepted that the United States did not object to the state arrests while the defendants awaited federal trial. On the sentence issue, the Court deferred to the state supreme court’s interpretation that two Louisiana statutes operate together and found no violation of due process in that state-law construction.

Real world impact

The decision means people who make liquor can face separate prosecutions in federal and state court for the same acts. State authorities may arrest defendants even if they await federal trial when the federal government does not object. State courts’ interpretations of their own statutes determine state penalties unless those constructions violate fundamental liberty or justice.