The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear Department of Justice v. McNutt, a challenge to federal restrictions on home distilling that tests the scope of Congress’s constitutional authority to protect tax revenue.

The case asks whether prohibiting the production of distilled spirits in homes and adjoining sheds or yards is a valid exercise of Congress’s authority under the Necessary and Proper Clause to carry out its taxing power.

The restrictions date to 1866, when Congress sought to combat widespread evasion of alcohol taxes, which have historically provided essential federal revenue. As described in the US Department of Justice’s petition for Supreme Court review:

Congress restricted home distilling 160 years ago in response to an extensive history of evasion of the distilled-spirits tax. The government has a substantial interest in its authority to safeguard a significant source of tax revenue—a source that was used to pay Revolutionary War debts at the Founding and now generates billions of dollars in tax revenue every year.

A group of would-be home distillers and the Hobby Distillers Association challenged the Civil War-era restrictions in federal court in Texas. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld an injunction against enforcement in April, reasoning that prohibiting otherwise taxable production did not further Congress’s taxing authority. The court also warned that the government’s rationale could justify criminalizing virtually any activity at home that might conceal taxable conduct.

The Justice Department argues that restricting distilling to locations where inspectors can more readily detect tax evasion helps ensure collection. It contends that courts should defer to Congress’s reasonable judgment about how to safeguard revenue.

The Fifth Circuit’s ruling conflicts with a Sixth Circuit decision upholding the home-distilling restriction. Monday’s grant allows the justices to resolve that disagreement; it does not decide the ban’s constitutionality.