Youth Tobacco Ban Survives Massachusetts High Court Scrutiny

A Massachusetts town’s prohibition on the sale of tobacco to people born on or after Jan. 1, 2000, can move forward after the state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled that it passes constitutional muster.

The decision handed down on Friday said the “birthdate classification” set by the town of Brookline “is rationally related to the town’s legitimate interest in mitigating tobacco use overall and in particular by minor.”

The justices said that “line drawing,” as Brookline did by setting a precise cut-off date, is a “legislative necessity” and “does not, without more, make a law unconstitutional.”

The ban, which currently mainly ...