Tobacco.org

Court to decide on leaf regulation / Can the FDA treat tobacco as a drug? 

The nine justices, including cigarette smokers Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Antonin M. Scalia, will determine whether the federal government can clamp down on cigarette sales to minors, even requiring buyers to show identification. . . The tobacco case, which may influence everything from public health policy to the location of cigarette machines, is the most closely watched case in the Supreme Court's new term that begins Monday.

No date has been set for arguments in the case.

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The issue here is who has the power to establish the social policies of the country. Is it the elected officials in Congress or the unelected bureaucrats in the Food and Drug Administration?
Charles A. Blixt, executive vice president and general counsel of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Maybe it's the unelected CEOs of major corporations. Quoted in <i>Court to decide on leaf regulation / Can the FDA treat tobacco as a drug?</i>