In this photograph illustration, packs of menthol cigarettes sits on a desk in New York City.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid from the tobacco business to dam a California ban on flavored tobacco merchandise.
The ban, or Proposition 31, was overwhelmingly permitted by voters in November and can prohibit the sale of most flavored tobacco merchandise, together with menthol cigarettes.
The emergency plea was introduced by R.J. Reynolds, a unit of British American Tobacco, and different main tobacco firms looking for to cease or delay the measure, which is about to take impact subsequent week.
The legislation was first handed two years in the past, however tobacco firms efficiently funded a marketing campaign to dam its implementation and put the difficulty on this yr’s statewide poll.
Justices, nonetheless, upheld the ban with out clarification or any public dissent.
R.J. Reynolds, which sells Newport menthol cigarettes, argued the ban contradicts the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, a federal legislation that prohibits states from blocking the sale of tobacco merchandise.
“They can raise the minimum purchase age, restrict sales to particular times and locations, and enforce licensing regimes,” legal professionals for the plaintiffs wrote of their injuction software. “But one thing they cannot do is completely prohibit the sale of those products for failing to meet the state’s or locality’s preferred tobacco product standards.”
The plaintiffs additionally argued that the tobacco business will face “substantial financial losses” from the legislation. Menthol cigarettes make up a few third of the market in California, they advised the courtroom.
R.J. Reynolds didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Monday.
Some California cities, together with Los Angeles and San Diego, have already enacted such bans on flavored tobacco merchandise and menthol cigarettes.
Once the statewide legislation takes impact, California will develop into the second state within the nation, after Massachusetts, to enact a statewide ban.