A Chattanooga case is set to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 29.
The high court only takes about 80 cases a year, and it chose the case involving Terry Honeycutt and the Brainerd Army Store.
Jay Woods and Perry Piper represent the government, while Chris Townley of Rossville is the defense attorney.
Honeycutt went to trial and wound up with a five-year sentence.
His older brother, Tony Honeycutt, earlier took a plea deal and got 10 months. He also agreed to a $200,000 forfeiture of the $269,751 in illegal profits the government contended the store operators received selling a key meth component.
Judge Sandy Mattice in May 2014 sentenced Terry Honeycutt, but declined to order a forfeiture as requested by the government. The judge said there were some legal sales of the Polar Pure product so it was not possible to adequately assess the forfeiture amount. He also said Terry Honeycutt was not an owner of the store and did not stand to directly gain from the illegal sales.
The government appealed on the forfeiture issue and won at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. One member of the panel disagreed with the finding that "joint and several liability" applied to drug forfeitures.
That will be the issue taken up by the high court.
Judge Mattice held a re-sentencing last September and, at the instruction of the higher court, tacked on $69,751 in forfeiture against Terry Honeycutt.