A ruling handed down by the Alabama Supreme Court Friday calls for halting the sale of alcohol in hundreds of cities across the state.

The high court overturned a 2009 law that allowed smaller municipalities to vote on whether alcohol should be sold in their cities.

It used to be that a town had to have 7,000 people to hold an election on alcohol sales.

The 2009 law lowered that to 1,000 people, but it excluded cities in Blount, Randolph and Clay counties.

Because of that, the courts found it violated the Equal Protection Clause.

The Alcohol and Beverage Control Board oversees the sale of alcohol. Officials with the ABC Board say this ruling will end alcohol sales for several hundred businesses across the state.

The parties involved have 18 days to ask for a rehearing on this matter or the legislature could move to amend the law within that time frame.

How does this effect Cherokee County? – The City’s of Centre and Leesburg would have to discontinue the sales of alcoholic beverages while the Town of Cedar Bluff would not be affected because alcohol sales there were approved in 2003 and took effect in 2005.