Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly, 533 U.S. 525, 60 (2001)

Page:   Index   Previous  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  Next

584

LORILLARD TOBACCO CO. v. REILLY

Opinion of Thomas, J.

surgence of cigar smoking in movies," and "cigar lifestyle magazines such as 'Cigar Aficionado.' " National Cancer Institute, Cigars: Health Effects and Trends, Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 9, pp. 14-15 (1998), Record, Doc. No. 39, Exh. 67. The report candidly acknowledges that "[a]dditional information is needed to better characterize marketing efforts for cigars" and "to learn the extent to which advertising and promotion for cigars . . . reaches and affects kids." Id., at 216-217. In other words, respondents have adduced no evidence that a ban on cigar advertising will do anything to promote their asserted interest.

Much the same is true of smokeless tobacco. Here respondents place primary reliance on evidence that, in the late 1960's, the U. S. Smokeless Tobacco Company increased its sales through advertising targeted at young males. See Brief for Respondents 39, n. 19. But this does nothing to show that advertising affecting minors is a problem today. The Court invokes the Food and Drug Administration's findings, see ante, at 559-560, but the report it cites based its conclusions on the observed "very large increase in the use of smokeless tobacco products by young people." 60 Fed. Reg. 41318 (1995). This premise is contradicted by one of respondents' own studies, which reports a large, steady decrease in smokeless tobacco use among Massachusetts high school students during the 1990's. See App. 292. This finding casts some doubt on whether the State's interest in additional regulation is truly compelling. More importantly, because cigarette smoking among high school students has not exhibited such a trend, see ibid., it indicates that respondents' effort to aggregate cigarettes and smokeless tobacco is misguided.

B

In any case, even assuming that the regulations advance a compelling state interest, they must be struck down because they are not narrowly tailored. The Court is correct, see ante, at 561-563, that the arbitrary 1,000-foot radius demon-

Page:   Index   Previous  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007