Cigarette Makers Win Halt to Enforcement of FDA Labeling Rule

The federal Food and Drug Administration can’t enforce its new labeling and advertising requirements for cigarette manufacturers after a federal judge found that the agency likely exceeded its statutory authority when it increased the number of warnings and essentially rewrote them.

The preliminary injunction entered by Judge J. Campbell Barker of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Monday postpones the challenged rules’ effective date for all entities governed by it, not just R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and others who brought the challenge.

The Administrative Procedure Act doesn’t require the court to limit relief to the ...