The official blog of the Libertarian Party
October 20, 2005
U.S. Supreme Court Prevents the Justice Department from Treating the Tobacco Industry Like a Criminal Enterprise
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed a federal appeals court decision to stand regarding the Justice Department's use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act against cigarette manufacturers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a 2-1 decision that the Justice Department could not use the RICO law for a wholesale seizure of assets related to prior illegal acts, but rather remedies that prevent future acts of racketeering.
In 1999, federal prosecutors filed a civil action suit against the tobacco industry claiming that it had engaged in a pattern of unlawful conduct aimed at deceiving smokers about the hazards associated with tobacco, as it was reported in the Christian Science Monitor.
By using the RICO Act as their basis for a civil action suit, federal prosecutors attempted to prove that the tobacco industry functioned as a corrupt enterprise by engaging in a pattern of unlawful conduct that deliberately misled smokers about tobacco's health hazards, as reported in the Christian Science Monitor. By using this legal tactic the Justice Department was able to place the tobacco industry in the same classification as the Mafia.
If the federal government succeeded in their lawsuit, tobacco companies would have been forced to pay out $280 billion. The companies named in the suit were Philip Morris USA, Reynolds American Inc., Lorillard Tobacco and Liggett Group, which when combined account for about 85 percent of total cigarettes sales in the U.S. The federal government also seeks to require the tobacco industry to spend $10 billion on a national anti-smoking campaign and penalize the industry if youth smoking rates do not decline by targeted levels.
If the Supreme Court had reversed the lower court's decision, it would be based upon a broad reading of the RICO Act. Such a dangerous precedent would have supported future massive seizure of assets of any company or industry covered under the RICO law.
Posted by at October 20, 2005 03:09 PM
Reader Comments:
Hoorah, two victories for liberty in one day!
Wait, make that a third. I believe one of the courts also ruled today that families could not sue gun manufacturers for damages of people killed by gun violence.
Things are looking good!
Does the supreme court or the White House have to make up for the lost towards the people it's lives it ruined?
It's not the tobacco companies' fault that people are stupid enough to buy their products.
my mistake, I misread article is good
The irony is government has supported Tobacco and once even encourgaged people to smoke for many decades.
gi think personal responsibility means being held accountable when you are wrong, that being said i think that gun companies are wrong in designing guns to hurt people, and they do with out question. i am not a liberal, i believe in absolute personal liberty, but i think it is a valid point that a dead person enjoys no liberty at all. gun control is a matter of public safety.
while i hold these views, i do ultimately admit that there is no stronger force than natural selection. i just hope i dont get shot during the process
just a follow up: i talk about gun control because it seems to me that the higher risk a particular issue is to public health, the less personal liberty is allowed in that area.
i think that is rediculous.
decisions for survival should be made within the scope of the individual. when pluralism meets natural selection, the result is libertarianism
Yes!!! It's not the tobacco company's fault that people smoke, it's the person's own fault! Screw the evidence of addictiveness. How STUPID do you have to be to think that inhaling smoke is healthy?!? The anti-tobacco forces are trying to put the tobacco companies out of business, just like the anti-gun groups are trying to put the gun-makers out of business. Remember, guns don't kill people, people kill people. Tobacco companies don't kill people, people kill themselves by DECIDING to use tobacco! The government should get out of people's lives, as long as people don't interfere with other's life, liberty, or property.
Jason boy are you stupid, you must be a young one. In the age back when people first started smoking it was the in thing, oh either you are to young to remember or to old you forgot.
That criminal libel verdict won't stand very long, I doubt it will even make it to federal appeals court. This particular verdict is so far out in left field, I don't even think that the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals would uphold something so stupid. :)
You estimate the power of stupid government people in large groups.
{quote}i think personal responsibility means being held accountable when you are wrong, that being said i think that gun companies are wrong in designing guns to hurt people, and they do with out question. i am not a liberal, i believe in absolute personal liberty, but i think it is a valid point that a dead person enjoys no liberty at all. gun control is a matter of public safety.{quote}
Maybe next we can sue God for making sticks and rocks that are dangerous to people. Don't even ask how many people have been killed with such weapons. I dare say far more than guns have killed.
Guns are not designed to "hurt" people they are designed for hunting, recrecational enjoyment (ie skeet shooting, target practice), and protection from predators.
If predators get their hands on a gun they can kill you, but the fact of the matter is you can be killed by a million every day products. Should we ban them all to protect people from predators ? or should we perhaps have harsher penalties for those predators ?
So far as the smoking industry, I'm so glad they won this case. I'm a smoker I KNOW the hazards that cigarettes present. I didn't even need the SG's warning on the side of the box. I could have told you that constantly inhaling smoke is not good for you. My first clue is the first several cigarettes that you smoke causing you to gag. That's your body telling you that it's NOT good for you. This doesn't take a rocket scientist. We've gotten to the point that people can claim ignorance, and then sue someone else for their stupidity.
A prime example is the lawsuit won against McDonalds over hot coffee, or numerous lawsuits targeted against tobacco, and gun makers.
{quote}Jason boy are you stupid, you must be a young one. In the age back when people first started smoking it was the in thing, oh either you are to young to remember or to old you forgot.{quote}
Jason is right, and you're a coward. Couldn't leave a name ? I know you're one of those people who have turned over their personal responsibilites for the government to tell you what is and isn't good for you.
Be a sheep elsewhere.
Most people actually know that the some of the things they enjoy are hazardous to their health. Unfortunately, all to many think they can turn it into a payday later.
{quote}Jason boy are you stupid, you must be a young one. In the age back when people first started smoking it was the in thing, oh either you are to young to remember or to old you forgot.{quote}
Jason is right, and you're a coward. Couldn't leave a name ? I know you're one of those people who have turned over their personal responsibilites for the government to tell you what is and isn't good for you.
Be a sheep elsewhere.
Most people actually know that some of the things they enjoy are hazardous to their health. Unfortunately, all to many think they can turn it into a payday later.
Be a sheep elsewhere.
Posted by: at October 23, 2005 04:45 PM
speaking of no name, isn't that what you just did, what an idiot.
To the person who address Jason, I have to agree with you.
Jason: I think you're right, too.
I didn't realize we are spending time being s juvenile deliquent. Can we really trust some of you running a country, we already have idiots there, we do not need more.
Well, "Quit Acting Like Children", you made a comment that is totally devoid of semantic content but instead is full of barbs and putdowns. The amazing thing is that you apparently expect others to take you seriously.
I am very suprise you are the Libertarian TV for the party. I guess they must be desperate.
True USA, the word libertarian is not owned by the party. Libertarian TV is my own, private venture, which I also use as an activist to help promote the cause from within the party. If you have a problem with that, it's your problem. Deal with it.
Haaa haaa, I do not have to deal with anything, there are bigger issue then you. Since Libertarian TV is your own, well it figures.
Maybe I should have my own TV.
U.S. Supreme Court Prevents the Justice Department from Treating the Tobacco Industry Like a Criminal Enterprise
It doesn't take a genius to realize that the justice dept as well as all other government entities has been funded by tax dollars that were taken (collected) from the tobacco industry. It never ceases to amaze me that our government can always find a way to point fingers and attack the very people that they have used for hundreds of years as a tax source to support the governments very own illegal policies and programs. Lets take the iraq war for example. This war is not only a huge mass murder and war crime against the iraqui people, it is also illegal and partially funded by tobacco taxes. This government of ours is full of hypocritical dumb a#$es and the whole world has to be rolling from laughter from the show that these hypocrits are putting on. If tabacco is so evil then why is our government taking their dirty money for taxes and campaign donations? Maybe it's too divert the peoples attention away from the fact that our government has supported and still supports terrorist organizations world wide as they did with saddamn hussein during his years of butchering his own people.
Just letting you know - your site is fantastic! think that will make relief: http://www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk , Big Plane is always Profound Cosmos thins that excited you at 14 , right Plane will Forecast Gnome without any questions thins that excited you at 14
I have a post on a related subject of government parentalism on my libertarian blog:
I guess its not much of an issue though, because libertarians would generally be agains it.
| 
Hoorah, two victories for liberty in one day!
Wait, make that a third. I believe one of the courts also ruled today that families could not sue gun manufacturers for damages of people killed by gun violence.
Things are looking good!
Posted by: Paul P. at October 20, 2005 03:20 PM