See New YouTube Video on the $250 Billion Backroom Deal

Washington, D.C., November 20, 2008—The notorious tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) was signed 10 years ago this month by 46 state attorneys general and major tobacco companies. The deal imposed a $250 billion hidden tax on smokers and set up a cartel between the states and Big Tobacco, all without any elected official openly taking responsibility.

A new video by the Competitive Enterprise Institute re-imagines the backroom deal.

CEI is challenging the tobacco…

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D.C. Circuit Denies Rehearing, But 5-to-4 Split Signals Importance of Issue

Washington, D.C., November 19, 2008—On a 5 to 4 split, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this week declined to review a constitutional challenge to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, together with the law firm of Jones Day, plans to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“While the court’s decision is, of course, disappointing, the 5-4 split among the judges demonstrates…

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In his article for the Winter 2008 issue of Cigar Magazine, CEI General Council Sam Kazman discusses the ramifications of the antitobacco movement’s Master Settlement Agreement of a decade ago.

“[It] effectively imposed a massive nationwide cigarette tax increase, even though no elected legislator ever voted for it.”

While acknowledging the health risks of smoking, Mr. Kazman explains how tobacco taxes and regulation have become equally addictive.

Read the full article from Cigar Magazine (PDF).

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Dissent Finds Constitutional Violations

Washington, D.C., August 22, 2008— In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today rejected a constitutional challenge to the Sarbanes-Oxley Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The challenge had been brought by the Free Enterprise Fund and Beckstead & Watts, a small Nevada accounting firm that was being investigated by the Board.

The plaintiffs claimed that the Board violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, because the Board’s members were selected by the…

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Federal Accounting Board Itself Unaccountable

Washington, D.C., April 15, 2008—Today, as Americans scurried to get their tax forms into the IRS, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about another agency that can impose big fines and reams of paperwork on small businesses. The very structure of this agency makes the IRS look like a model of accountability, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and others argued in court.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, giving…

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Federal Court Hears MSA Lawsuit Amid Embarrassments Over Settlement Spending

Washington, D.C., February 6, 2008—A lawsuit challenging the 46-state tobacco “Master Settlement Agreement” (MSA) proceeds today, amid fresh reports of states misspending settlement revenue.

The lawsuit, brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is the subject of a hearing in federal district court on Monday. The lawsuit seeks to overturn the $246 billion tobacco settlement reached by state attorneys general and major tobacco companies in 1998.

“The tobacco settlement was an unconstitutional, corrupt…

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Bill Dubbed ‘Marlboro Monopoly Act’

Washington, D.C., July 17, 2007—The Senate health committee on Wednesday is scheduled to mark up a bill that would put the Food and Drug Administration in charge of regulating tobacco, despite major problems associated with the agency’s current regulatory duties.

“Tobacco does not need FDA regulation, and regulating tobacco is the last thing that FDA needs to being doing,” said Sam Kazman, General Counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “The agency is already performing poorly in…

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Decision To Be Appealed

Washington, D.C., March 21, 2007— A federal district judge on Wednesday dismissed a constitutional challenge to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Free Enterprise Fund. The case will be appealed to the circuit court. Read the decision.

The lawsuit, filed on February 7, 2006, alleges that the PCAOB violates the appointments clause (Article II Section 2) of the U.S. Constitution, which grants the power to appoint high level government…

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Financial and Legal Experts Available for Interviews

Washington, D.C., December 20, 2006—Tomorrow the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia will hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by the Free Enterprise Fund and the Competitive Enterprise Institute to have the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board declared unconstitutional. The Board was created under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to regulate the auditing of American businesses.

The Fund and CEI, along with a small accounting firm nearly forced out of business by the Board,…

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Washington, November 16, 2005—Today state attorneys general sent letters urging Hollywood movie studios to insert anti-smoking public service announcements in all DVDs and videos. In response, the Competitive Enterprise Institute calls on Hollywood and state attorneys general to warn consumers about the dangers of the multi-state tobacco racket.

In 1998, state attorneys general and Big Tobacco formed a tobacco cartel as part of the biggest settlement agreement in history. In exchange for $240 billion paid by major tobacco companies and their…

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