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
-
Another year on the High Court: Supreme Court Justices begin the new term with decisions on more than 2,000 appeals. (AP)
-
Interactive The Supreme Court History, traditions and key cases, plus what it takes to get on the bench.
-
Blog Court Watch CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen's new blog on the big issues and analyzes important cases of the day.
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:
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From Supreme Court
Add a Comment See all 40 Comments
- Y''all kill me. Tobacco has been smoked in this world longer than this country has been established. Same with alcohol. Trying to totally eliminate either of these is ludicrous. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!! No matter how many deaths they cause or how many taxes you add upon them. Can we try to contol how their advertised and used? YES. Does that mean everyone who has made a poor choice concerning their use in their lives needs to sue the companies that make them? NO. It''s time America (and the world) woke up and started taking responsibility for themselves and what they''ve done. If you can sue tobbaco for you using it, can your family sue you back for the pain and suffering your poor choice caused them? get a grip people!!
- Reply to this comment
- ...Or would you Liber-Brats wanna see the Ecomony ANY Industry tank at the same time?
Posted 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. - Reply to this comment
- All you whining, victimized NeoLibs need to really try hard and get a life here!
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? - Reply to this comment
- "High Court Hints It Will Side With Tobacco
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!!!! - Reply to this comment
- With all the scientific facts against smoking, the addiction of tobacco, and the immoral marketing of the product, the executives of the tobacco companies are really no better than drug dealers and murderers. The only real difference is that the have bought off both Congress and the Supreme Court. This is an industry that should be banned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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. - Reply to this comment
- Cigarettes will be legal because that''''s what we want. Thw people that di not want the bailout, must be thinking like you. HAHAHAHAHAH. They got bailout any way. So what you, the people, want, don''t mean a lot.
- Reply to this comment
- With all the scientific facts against smoking, the addiction of tobacco, and the immoral marketing of the product, the executives of the tobacco companies are really no better than drug dealers and murderers. The only real difference is that the have bought off both Congress and the Supreme Court. This is an industry that should be banned.
- Reply to this comment
- Altria wants to keep and expand its market for the addictive poison it is peddling through cigarettes. We won''t even examine the contents of their "snacks."
It is just shocking to imagine that distinguished jurists like Scalia and Thomas would help to advance such a danger to the public health. - Reply to this comment
- Well, I do enjoy a Cigar, especially a very mild one. The taste, the aroma, aahh, awesome. But, I do only smoke once or twice a year. AND ALWAYS OUTSIDE to protect my family. This said, it does not mean I condone the actions of cigarette makers and their drive to include MORE ingredients that would make people addicted without even the minimal warning that their health was being affected. What they did was and still is unethical at the least, possibly criminal. And you idiots, even if YOU do not smoke, you are still paying for cigarette smoking illnesses, first hand or secondhand. Whether it is your increased health insurance to cover smoke related diseases or your taxes to those who have no insurance, you are still paying.
- Reply to this comment
- By the way slim1, the premise of the lawsuit has been proven to be bogus. The States sued on the grounds that ''''providing health care for smokers cost more money'''' BUT the Government of the Netherlands conducted a long-term (20 yrs?) study that proved that smokers COST LESS in health care because they die sooner. The incredibly obnoxious ''''health fiends'''' are the ones who live much longer, develop more long term illnesses, and require treatment for much longer. As I light up my next cigarette I smile as I think of those ''''health nuts'''' living to be 95 or a 100 & spending the last few years in diapers with bedsores ''''cause their ''''warehoused'''' in a ''''nursing home''''
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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. - Reply to this comment
- Cigarettes will be legal because that''s what we want.
- Reply to this comment
- spiritwalk at 08:14 PM
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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. - Reply to this comment
- Second hand smoke? Even the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION says there''s no proof. They don''t BELIEVE IT. So climb off the high horse...and stop being a wimp.
- Reply to this comment
- Keep your sticky fingers off my fat and off my cigarettes. I''ll eat and smoke what I want. Control freaks all around us. What''s wrong with libs?
- Reply to this comment
- Cigarettes will always be legal because too many lawmakers smoke and love it, so they aren''t about to make it illegal. heh
- Reply to this comment
- "CBS News has gone ahead and deleted / censored comments on that article. Why CBS?" Posted by mainedoggie
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. - Reply to this comment
- no surprise here. Rethuglicans protecting their own criminal kind. Nothing new folks.
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."
---------------
CBS News has gone ahead and deleted / censored comments on that article. Why CBS? - Reply to this comment
- spiritwalk at 08:14 PM
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. - Reply to this comment
- Tobacco is pure poison and offers not one benefit to anyone, not one. If this court sides with big tobacco, well all I can say is that it has become a worthless court and has had no credibility since they decided to steal an election in order to pay political favors.
- Reply to this comment
- Altria, the benefactor that provides addicts with nicotine fixes and the obese with fat-laden "snacks."
- Reply to this comment
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
