Obama administration files appeal in tobacco case

The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to consider allowing the federal government to force tobacco companies to fund smoking cessation and public education programs, which could cost the industry billions of dollars.

The administration’s filed the appeal after a federal judge and an appeals court rejected the government’s attempt to impose such remedies on the industry as redress for violations under U.S. racketeering laws.

Altria Co’s Philip Morris USA unit, the nation’s biggest cigarette company, itself asked the high court on Friday to overturn part of the decision on the grounds that the racketeering statute was improperly invoked and that the appeals court was overly deferential to the trial court.

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

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