Several tobacco companies plan to ask the US Supreme Court to overturn a May ruling in a racketeering lawsuit that requires them to disclose more about the dangers of smoking and bars them from selling cigarettes as "light" or "low tar”.

The companies asked the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC on Monday not to enforce its 22 May ruling until the nation's highest court can decide whether to hear their appeal. The appeals court declined on 22 September to reconsider the case.
Monday's motion seeking a delay was filed on behalf of Altria Group and its Philip Morris USA unit, British American Tobacco, Lorillard and Reynolds American’s RJ Reynolds.
May's ruling had upheld a 2006 decision by US district judge Gladys Kessler finding the companies violated federal anti-racketeering laws by conspiring to lie about the dangers of smoking.
The appeals court also required the use of "corrective statements" on cigarette packages, in advertising and on he companies' websites about the adverse effects of smoking, and banned the use of expressions such as "light" and "low tar" in cigarette marketing. Yet in a blow to
anti-smoking groups, the appeals court also upheld Kessler's decision not to force the companies to fund a programme to help people stop smoking.
In Monday's filing, the companies said there remain open issues concerning their First Amendment free speech rights, whether a racketeering charge was appropriate, and whether new "comprehensive" federal regulations governing "every aspect" of their businesses deprived the courts of jurisdiction.
They also said a delay would be equitable, contending they would be forced to "expend substantial, unrecoverable funds" to follow the May ruling, while they appeal, while "no party would be prejudiced by the issuance of a stay”.
The Clinton Administration had originally filed the case in 1999, seeking USD 289 billion of damages. (pi)