A U.S. district court judge said at a hearing on Wednesday that an FDA rule to put large graphic health warnings on cigarette packs may violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies, reports Reuters.

Reynolds American's R.J. Reynolds unit, Lorillard, Liggett Group, Commonwealth Brands, which is owned by Imperial Tobacco Group, and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco contended that the rule by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – which requires colour warning labels to cover the top 50 per cent of a cigarette pack's front and back panels – would force them to engage in anti-smoking advocacy against their own legal products.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who last November issued a temporary injunction blocking the rule, said he would issue his final ruling in the case well before 10 April. That is the date when the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit is scheduled to hear the government's appeal of Leon's injunction. The FDA rule was due to take effect this September.
Lawyers said a ruling before 10 April would give appellate judges leeway to rule on the case and the injunction at the same time.
In his injunction order, Leon agreed with cigarette makers that the government had failed to show how the graphic images met legal precedents requiring government-imposed labeling to be factual and uncontroversial.
Leon cast additional doubt on the legality of the rule on Wednesday by suggesting that Congress had ignored legal precedents protecting commercial speech from government control. "There's nothing on the record to suggest that Congress gave any clear and thoughtful analysis on the First Amendment implications of this," the judge said.
The case (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co et al v. FDA, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, No. 11-01482) could wind up before the Supreme Court. (pi)