Four of the nation’s largest cigarette manufacturers are suing the federal government for what they say is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
Lorillard, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Commonwealth Brands, Inc., and Liggett Group LLC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday, alleging that the Food and Drug Administration’s nine new graphic cigarette warnings are an unconstitutional way to strong-arm companies into promoting the government’s anti-smoking agenda.
“The regulations violate the First Amendment,” Floyd Abrams, a lawyer representing Lorillard, said in the statement. “The notion that the government can require those who manufacture a lawful product to emblazon half of its package with pictures and words admittedly drafted to persuade the public not to purchase that product cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
Under the FDA’s newly announced packaging regulations, cigarette packs and all cigarette advertising must display graphic warnings by September 2012 that feature such images as a blackened lungs and a dead body.
The manufacturers are seeking a preliminary injunction to delay the regulation’s implementation and a declaration that the requirement is unconstitutional.
The FDA did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment.