534
Opinion of Blackmun, J.
none of petitioner's common-law damages claims are preempted by the 1965 Act. In my view, the words of § 5(b) of that Act ("No statement relating to smoking and health shall be required in the advertising of any cigarettes the packages of which are labeled in conformity with the provisions of this Act") can bear only one meaning: that States are prohibited merely from "mandating particular cautionary statements . . . in cigarette advertisements." Ante, at 518. As the Court recognizes, this interpretation comports with Congress' stated purpose of avoiding " 'diverse, nonuniform, and confusing cigarette labeling and advertising regulations'" relating to smoking and health. Ante, at 519 (quoting 15 U. S. C. § 1331(2)). The narrow scope of federal pre-emption is thus apparent from the statutory text, and it is correspondingly impossible to divine any "clear and manifest purpose" on the part of Congress to pre-empt common-law damages actions.
II
My agreement with the Court ceases at this point. Given the Court's proper analytical focus on the scope of the express pre-emption provisions at issue here and its acknowledgment that the 1965 Act does not pre-empt state common-law damages claims, I find the plurality's conclusion that the 1969 Act pre-empts at least some common-law damages claims little short of baffling. In my view, the modified language of § 5(b), 15 U. S. C. § 1334(b) ("No requirement or prohibition based on smoking and health shall be imposed under State law with respect to the advertising or promotion of any cigarettes the packages of which are labeled in conformity with the provisions of this Act"), no more "clearly" or "manifestly" exhibits an intent to pre-empt state common-law damages actions than did the language of its predecessor in the 1965 Act. Nonetheless, the plurality reaches a different conclusion, and its reasoning warrants scrutiny.
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