by Brian Wolfman
As explained in this article by Brady Dennis, the Department of Justice and the FDA have acquiesced in the D.C. Circuit's ruling
striking down the FDA's new graphic cigarette labels on First Amendment
grounds and announced that the government will not seek Supreme Court
review of the D.C. Circuit's ruling. The Sixth Circuit had taken a different view, but it appears that the government thought its chances were slim before the Supreme Court.
Dennis explains:
Facing a deadline to appeal to the Supreme Court, the Justice
Department declined, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a
letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) dated March 15. “In
these circumstances, the Solicitor General has determined, after
consultation with [the Department of Health and Human Services] and FDA,
not to seek Supreme Court review of the First Amendment issues at the
present time,” the letter said. … Dozens of countries
already require graphic warning labels similar to those proposed by the
FDA, and a survey by the World Health Organization found that they were
more effective than text-only labels in deterring smoking.
One of the FDA's 9 graphic warnings appears above. Here are the other 8:
This is a worthwhile cause that should be appealed by the Justice Department to the Supreme Court, especially when there is a split of opinion at the circuit court level.