Federal Court Finds State Online Auction Law Unconstitutional - Articles

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Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 30, 2022

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on March 23 declared Tennessee’s law requiring a license for an online auction to be unconstitutional. The case was brought by Beacon Center of Tennessee and Southeastern Legal Foundation on behalf of Will McLemore and Aaron McKee, two auctioneers who innovated the use of an online platform for auctioneering, and the Interstate Auction Association, an unincorporated association dedicated to innovation in auctioneering. Tennessee enacted the law in 2019, making it one of the first states in the country to impose a license on online auctions. Judge Eli Richardson ruled that the law violated the Constitution’s Commerce Clause by trying to regulate interstate commerce in the form of an internet style auction.