ANA Urges Supreme Court to Accept Appeal of Key Tobacco Advertising Case

ANA recently joined with the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a key First Amendment case challenging the advertising restrictions in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld certain advertising restrictions in a March 2012 decision.  A group of tobacco companies has asked the Supreme Court to review and reverse that decision.  Our “friend of the court” brief urges the Supreme Court to accept the appeal.

The original lawsuit challenging the marketing restrictions was filed by six major tobacco companies in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.  In a 2010 decision, that court held that the Tobacco Control Act’s ban on colors and images in ads was unconstitutional.  However, the court upheld other speech restrictions including broad bans on sports, cultural, and other sponsorships and a requirement of new graphic warnings.    ANA filed “friend of the court” briefs with both the District Court and the Court of Appeals in regard to this case.

The industry brief was written by Robert Corn-Revere, noted First Amendment attorney with the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.  

If you have any questions, you can reach Dan Jaffe in ANA’s Washington office at 202-296-2359 or at djaffe@ana.net.