25 U.S.C. § 253
Section 253 · Wines for sacramental purposes
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case State v. Romero (2006)
Most recently applied in 25 F. Supp. 3d 170 - Bern Unlimited, Inc. v. Burton Corp. (June 2014)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
It shall not be unlawful to introduce and use wines solely for sacramental purposes, under church authority, at any place within the Indian country or any Indian reservation, including the Pueblo Reservations in New Mexico.