On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a landmark tobacco industry ruling and the government's request for additional penalties against cigarette makers.

The court declined to hear appeals from the tobacco industry seeking to overturn a 2006 ruling which found it had violated racketeering laws by misleading smokers over health risks.
The court also rejected an appeal by the federal government in which it sought huge damages against tobacco firms. The US government was appealing against a lower court ruling that it could not take USD 280 billion (EUR 229 billion) of tobacco firms' profits to help people quit smoking.
In 2006, US District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that nine tobacco companies attempted to defraud the public through denying the health effects of smoking, concealing evidence that nicotine is addictive and attempting to sell cigarettes to young people. In its appeals, the federal government said the tobacco industry's "deception has cost the lives and damaged the health of untold millions of Americans". A federal appeals court in Washington later upheld most of Kessler's findings and found large tobacco companies liable in the case. But in both instances, the courts rejected the government's attempts to withhold money and said the federal law did not give courts power to order a national anti-smoking program.
The tobacco companies involved in the case are Philip Morris USA, Altria Group, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, British American Tobacco Investments, and Lorillard Tobacco. (pi)