Free Speech Violation in Graphic Cigarette Warnings Required by FDA, Court Says

Five tobacco companies won round two Aug. 24 against the Food and Drug Administration as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled the agency’s requirement of pictorial warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements violates the First Amendment (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Food & Drug Administration, D.C. Cir., No. 11-5332).

The ruling sends the issue of what to put on packaging back to the agency.

The appeals court said in a 2-1 decision that FDA did not provide “a shred of evidence” establishing that the graphic warning labels would directly advance the government’s ...