Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly, 533 U.S. 525, 17 (2001)

Page:   Index   Previous  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  Next

Cite as: 533 U. S. 525 (2001)

Opinion of the Court

lar area. State action may be foreclosed by express language in a congressional enactment, see, e. g., Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., 505 U. S. 504, 517 (1992), by implication from the depth and breadth of a congressional scheme that occupies the legislative field, see, e. g., Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Assn. v. De la Cuesta, 458 U. S. 141, 153 (1982), or by implication because of a conflict with a congressional enactment, see, e. g., Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., 529 U. S. 861, 869-874 (2000).

In the FCLAA, Congress has crafted a comprehensive federal scheme governing the advertising and promotion of cigarettes. The FCLAA's pre-emption provision provides:

"(a) Additional statements

"No statement relating to smoking and health, other than the statement required by section 1333 of this title, shall be required on any cigarette package. "(b) State regulations

"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 chapter." 15 U. S. C. § 1334.

The FCLAA's pre-emption provision does not cover smokeless tobacco or cigars.

In these cases, our task is to identify the domain expressly pre-empted, see Cipollone, supra, at 517, because "an express definition of the pre-emptive reach of a statute . . . supports a reasonable inference . . . that Congress did not intend to pre-empt other matters," Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick, 514 U. S. 280, 288 (1995). Congressional purpose is the "ultimate touchstone" of our inquiry. Cipollone, supra, at 516 (internal quotation marks omitted). Because "federal law is said to bar state action in [a] fiel[d] of traditional state regulation," namely, advertising, see Packer Corp. v. Utah, 285 U. S. 105, 108 (1932), we "wor[k] on the assumption that

541

Page:   Index   Previous  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007