Jump to full article: Bowling Green (KY) Daily News, 2009-09-04
Intro: As Americans, we value many things and among those things that we cherish is the First Amendment, which guarantees us the right to free speech, along with other important freedoms.
That is why we are supporting a lawsuit filed by some of the nation's largest tobacco companies claiming that restrictions in federal law violate their freedom of speech.
Bowling Green-based Commonwealth Brands and other companies, including R.J. Reynolds, are challenging the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which prohibits tobacco companies from giving truthful information to adult customers. . . .
Regardless of one's opinion on tobacco companies and smoking, these companies deserve to advertise to their adult customers.
The companies respect the law's efforts to keep tobacco products from underage customers. This is a reasonable restriction. While freedom of speech should be construed broadly it should not be absolute in every instance.
This law may have been well intentioned, but it is clear that it handicaps the tobacco industry's right to free speech. The law ultimately will affect commerce and is tantamount to banning tobacco altogether, which is a legal product.
This newspaper has long been a strong proponent of the First Amendment. . . .
the McCain-Feingold Bill (which restricted campaign financing) was a dangerous intrusion on forms of political speech, which deserve encouragement rather than suppression.
Commercial speech by tobacco companies directed at adults is also deserving of constitutional protection.
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