Tobacco Case Reaches High Court

The Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court Monday to reverse a lower-court ruling that gutted its $280 billion suit against the tobacco industry.

A federal appeals court in Washington ruled earlier that the federal government could not use U.S. racketeering law to force the tobacco industry to disgorge decades of alleged illegal profits.

Unless the appeals court is reversed, the government will have to argue that much lesser penalties should be imposed to restrain the alleged conduct.

The Justice Department told the high court it brought the suit based on (the industry’s) decades-long pattern of unlawful conduct aimed at deceiving the American people about the health hazards of smoking.

If the Supreme Court reverses the appeals court, the department could again ask for the heavier penalty. The justices should make their decision about hearing the USA vs. Philip Morris et al sometime this summer or fall.

The case is separate from the $242 billion settlement reached by the states and the tobacco industry in 199