Government-Tobacco Cartel Challenged In Court

CEI Cites Constitutional Violation

Washington, D.C., August 2, 2005—The Competitive Enterprise Institute on Tuesday filed a constitutional challenge to the 1998 tobacco settlement. The suit alleges that the agreement between 46 states and major tobacco companies is unconstitutional because it violates the Compact Clause of the Constitution:

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress … enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State. (Article I, Section 10)

The Compact Clause was meant to prevent states from collectively encroaching on federal power…

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CEI Applauds Court Ruling Against Gov’t Tobacco Suit

Smokers, Shareholders Escape Fed’s Try at Taxation-Through-Litigation

Washington, D.C., February 4, 2005—The Competitive Enterprise Institute applauds today’s court ruling against the federal government’s tobacco racketeering suit.

“The federal government’s lawsuit to squeeze $280 billion out of the tobacco industry was nothing more than an effort to milk a politically disfavored industry,” said Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“Tobacco may be addictive, but tobacco money is even more addictive,” Kazman observed. “First came the states with the attorney general…

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