Justices criticize FTC in cigarette case

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Two U.S. Supreme Court justices said the federal government may be partially to blame for a claim that cigarette companies deceptively call some smokes light.

During oral arguments Monday in Altria Group et al vs Good et al, Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia suggested the Federal Trade Commission knew for years the ads were founded on flawed claims and did little or nothing, ScotusBlog.com reported.

Talking to an FTC lawyer, Alito said, "You created this whole problem. You have misled everyone who has bought these cigarettes for a long time."

Assistant to the Solicitor General Douglas Hallward-Dreimeier of the Justice Department said the tobacco industry knew as early as 1967 that its claim of low tar and nicotine in "light" cigarettes was invalid.

Scalia countered, however, that knowledge of the claim being invalid was known for some time and "the FTC has done nothing."

The case asks whether federal law bars individual smokers from suing under state law, alleging ads deceptively promoting "light" cigarettes as being low in tar and nicotine. The tobacco industry claimed federal law on cigarette labeling and marketing expressly pre-empts state law claims and the FTC allowing the ads during the years implicitly pre-empts such claims.