WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2008
High Court Hints It Will Side With Tobacco
Justices Skeptical That Makers Of "Light" Cigarettes Could Be Sued For Deceptive Marketing
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Another year on the High Court: Supreme Court Justices begin the new term with decisions on more than 2,000 appeals. (AP)
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Interactive The Supreme Court History, traditions and key cases, plus what it takes to get on the bench.
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The first day of the court's new term, which is set in law as the first Monday in October, included denials of hundreds of appeals. Chief Justice John Roberts opened the new session in a crowded courtroom that included retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Last term, the justices handed down several opinions that limited state regulation of business in favor of federal power. Several justices posed skeptical questions in this term's first case, whether federal law prevents smokers from using consumer protection laws to go after tobacco companies for their marketing of "light" and "low tar" cigarettes.
The companies are facing dozens of such lawsuits across the country.
The federal cigarette labeling law bars states from regulating any aspect of cigarette advertising that involves smoking and health.
"How do you tell it's deceptive or not if you don't look at what the relationship is between smoking and health?," Chief Justice John Roberts said during oral arguments on the case.
Three Maine residents sued Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA Inc. subsidiary under the state's law against unfair marketing practices. The class-action claim represents all smokers of Marlboro Lights or Cambridge Lights cigarettes, both made by Philip Morris.
The lawsuit argues that the company knew for decades that smokers of light cigarettes compensate for the lower levels of tar and nicotine by taking longer puffs and compensating in other ways.
A federal district court threw out the lawsuit, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it could go forward.
The role of the Federal Trade Commission could be important in the outcome. The FTC is only now proposing to change rules that for years condoned the use of "light" and "low tar" in advertising the cigarettes, despite evidence that smokers were getting a product as dangerous as regular cigarettes.
The FTC "created this problem by tacitly approving the placement of these figures in the advertisements," Justice Samuel Alito said.
Douglas Hallward-Dreimeier, the Justice Department lawyer representing the FTC before the court on Monday, said the cigarette makers "should not be able to benefit from their own misleading of the commission."
Justice Stephen Breyer said tobacco companies are like most national advertisers that have to comply with differing state anti-deception ads. "Yet they've survived. There is no evidence even that there is a problem, " Breyer said.
The case is Altria Group Inc. v. Good, 07-562.
CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews says that in this first week of the Court's term, the Justices will also hear arguments from environmentalists who want to restrict the Navy's use of sonar due to the possible harm of whales ( Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council).
Also scheduled this term: a question as to whether FDA approval of a drug can block consumers from suing a drug's manufacturer (Wyeth v. Levine).
As Andrews notes, the biggest decision involving the Court is the one voters make on Election Day. Five of the justices are already over the age of 70, including 88-year-old Justice John Paul Stevens. Clearly some retirements might be expected.
What kind of judge the next president might appoint is already being asked by voters and by special interest groups.
Senator John McCain says his nominees will be modeled after Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both picked for the Court by President Bush.
"I will look for accomplished men and women, with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to strictly interpreting the Constitution of the United States," McCain said in a speech before the National Right to Life Convention in July.
As for Senator Barack Obama's possible choice, he wants justices to look out for the little guy.
"I'm committed to appointing judges who understand how law operates in our daily lives, judges who will uphold the values at the core of our Constitution," Obama said last month in Daytona Beach, Fla.
On Monday, the Supreme Court also:
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See all 40 CommentsPosted by TheVicar1
You''re the worst kind of slime. Yeah, let''s let them keep poisoning people for profit so that they don''t have to fire anybody. We need to find an island for you types of people and just let you eat each other.
BOTTOM LINE, we DONT need the Courts leveling financial penalties on ANY US Company that is actually generating revenue, in times such as these.
...Or would you Liber-Brats wanna see the Ecomony ANY Industry tank at the same time?
Justices Skeptical That Makers Of "Light" Cigarettes Could Be Sued For Deceptive Marketing"
Of course, this is america, where fraud and bribing politicians, judges, etc. at the expense of consumer Joe is the norm (actually it''s kind of expected). Why should some scandalous corporate elitist have to pay for some "main street" Joe just because they lied or "deceived" them into buying their product (otherwise known as fraud). Not in this country. If I put rat poison in your food and tell you the food is safer, well who are you to sue me for making a profit at your expense. We have to protect these large corporations from the little guy.
This country has become a disgrace!!!!
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Posted by afmca at 08:11 AM : Oct 07, 2008
Do you drink coffee? It causes problems with your liver. Do you drink tap water? The flouride and heavy metals in the water cause issues. Do you breath air? The pollution causes just as many issues as anything else. The list goes on and on. Ban alcohol, this causes just as many deaths world wide as anything.
It is just shocking to imagine that distinguished jurists like Scalia and Thomas would help to advance such a danger to the public health.
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Posted by nojoy01 at 07:58 PM : Oct 06, 2008
I agree with that statement. And with the ill health of the country, I wonder why I even bothered to quit smoking.
The deception is yours. All you talk about is lung cancer and the truth is smoking causes many more kinds of afflictions. Second hand smoke can certainly cause cancer, but that''''s not all. Yes, people do get cancer that have never smoked, but that doesn''''t make smoking better. Personally, my problem with you is your intent to minimize.
Posted by rudy654
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I merely pointed out that we need to be aware of environmental causes. There are a lot of people working in passively dangerous environments and OSHA is not doing enough to educate and protect them.
I did not mean to upset you. Which illustrates my point about passively dangerous environments. This blog must be one, as it seems to have caused a vessel to burst in your cranium.
Because they know that the article will draw the same bunch of fake zealots who will, as usual, flood their servers with the same intolerant garbage.
As for smoking, the Court should either legalize pot and tax both, or make cigarettes illegal, and create a whole new class of criminals to fill the jails, while the Wall Street criminals and the Bush treason klan get free passes because the jails are too full.
Liars, cheats, crooks, thugs. That is the republican party, that is the GOP. Pigs, all of them.
BTW...
(CBS/ AP) Pope Benedict XVI says the global financial crisis shows the futility of money and ambition.
"He who builds only on visible and tangible things like success, career and money builds the house of his life on sand," the pontiff says.
"We are now seeing, in the collapse of major banks, that money vanishes, it is nothing," the pope adds.
The pontiff was speaking Monday as he opened the works of a meeting of 253 bishops at the Vatican.
Benedict says "the only solid reality is the word of God."
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CBS News has gone ahead and deleted / censored comments on that article. Why CBS?
The deception is yours. All you talk about is lung cancer and the truth is smoking causes many more kinds of afflictions. Second hand smoke can certainly cause cancer, but that''s not all. Yes, people do get cancer that have never smoked, but that doesn''t make smoking better. Personally, my problem with you is your intent to minimize.
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