Latest news with #RJReynolds
Bloomberg
21-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
A Vaping Victory for Big Tobacco Masks the Real Issue
On Friday, the US Supreme Court waded into the confusing, on-again, off-again effort by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate e-cigarettes ... and didn't get too far. In voting 7-2 to allow a suit by RJ Reynolds Vapor Company against the agency to continue, the justices ruled on a tricky procedural issue and, I think, got the answer right. The litigation is far from over, but recent scholarly work suggests that the ban itself might be a mistake. To understand the case, it's useful to review a bit of history. In 2000, the Supreme Court struck down the FDA's efforts to regulate most tobacco products. Nevertheless, in 2008, the agency began seizing e-cigarettes imported into the US. The following year, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which, among other things, required FDA approval before the marketing of any 'new' tobacco product. The courts swiftly held that the authority covered vaping devices. But rather than disrupt what had by then become a substantial market, the agency allowed companies to continue selling their e-cigarette products while it processed their applications.
Al Arabiya
20-06-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Supreme Court Widens Court Options for Vaping Companies Pushing Back Against FDA Rules
The Supreme Court sided with e-cigarette companies on Friday in a ruling making it easier to sue over Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking their products from the multibillion-dollar vaping market. The 7–2 opinion comes as companies push back against a yearslong federal regulatory crackdown on electronic cigarettes. It's expected to give the companies more control over which judges hear lawsuits filed against the agency. The justices went the other way on vaping in an April decision siding with the FDA in a ruling upholding a sweeping block on most sweet-flavored vapes instituted after a spike in youth vaping. The current case was filed by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., which had sold a line of popular berry and menthol-flavored vaping products before the agency started regulating the market under the Tobacco Control Act in 2016. 'The agency refused to authorize the company's Vuse Alto products, an order that sounded the death knell for a significant portion of the e-cigarette market,' Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion. The company is based in North Carolina and typically would have been limited to challenging the FDA in a court there or in the agency's home base of Washington. Instead, it joined forces with Texas businesses that sell the products and sued there. The conservative 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the lawsuit to go forward, finding that anyone whose business is hurt by the FDA decision can sue. The agency appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that R.J. Reynolds was trying to find a court friendly to its arguments–a practice often called 'judge shopping.' The justices, though, found that the law does allow other businesses affected by the FDA decisions, like e-cigarette sellers, to sue in their home states. In a dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said she would have sided with the agency and limited where the cases can be filed. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called the majority decision 'disappointing,' saying it would allow manufacturers to 'judge shop,' though it said the companies will still have to contend with the Supreme Court's April decision. Attorney Ryan Watson, who represented R.J. Reynolds, said that the court recognized that 'agency decisions can have devastating downstream effects on retailers and other businesses,' and the decision 'ensures that the courthouse doors are not closed to them.'
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Supreme court widens court options for vaping companies pushing back against FDA rules
The Supreme Court sided with e-cigarette companies on Friday in a ruling making it easier to sue over Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking their products from the multibillion-dollar vaping market. The 7-2 opinion comes as companies push back against a yearslong federal regulatory crackdown on electronic cigarettes. It's expected to give the companies more control over which judges hear lawsuits filed against the agency. The justices went the other way on vaping in an April decision, siding with the FDA in a ruling upholding a sweeping block on most sweet-flavored vapes instituted after a spike in youth vaping. The current case was filed by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., which had sold a line of popular berry and menthol-flavored vaping products before the agency started regulating the market under the Tobacco Control Act in 2016. The agency refused to authorize the company's Vuse Alto products, an order that 'sounded the death knell for a significant portion of the e-cigarette market,' Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion. The company is based in North Carolina and typically would have been limited to challenging the FDA in a court there or in the agency's home base of Washington. Instead, it joined forces with Texas businesses that sell the products and sued there. The conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the lawsuit to go forward, finding that anyone whose business is hurt by the FDA decision can sue. The agency appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that R.J. Reynolds was trying to find a court friendly to its arguments, a practice often called 'judge shopping." The justices, though, found that the law does allow other businesses affected by the FDA decisions, like e-cigarette sellers, to sue in their home states. In a dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said she would have sided with the agency and limited where the cases can be filed. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called the majority decision disappointing, saying it would allow manufacturers to 'judge shop,' though it said the companies will still have to contend with the Supreme Court's April decision. Attorney Ryan Watson, who represented R.J. Reynolds, said that the court recognized that agency decisions can have devastating downstream effects on retailers and other businesses, and the decision 'ensures that the courthouse doors are not closed' to them. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of the Supreme Court at
Associated Press
20-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Supreme court widens court options for vaping companies pushing back against FDA rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with e-cigarette companies on Friday in a ruling making it easier to sue over Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking their products from the multibillion-dollar vaping market. The 7-2 opinion comes as companies push back against a yearslong federal regulatory crackdown on electronic cigarettes. It's expected to give the companies more control over which judges hear lawsuits filed against the agency. The justices went the other way on vaping in an April decision, siding with the FDA in a ruling upholding a sweeping block on most sweet-flavored vapes instituted after a spike in youth vaping. The current case was filed by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., which had sold a line of popular berry and menthol-flavored vaping products before the agency started regulating the market under the Tobacco Control Act in 2016. The agency refused to authorize the company's Vuse Alto products, an order that 'sounded the death knell for a significant portion of the e-cigarette market,' Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion. The company is based in North Carolina and typically would have been limited to challenging the FDA in a court there or in the agency's home base of Washington. Instead, it joined forces with Texas businesses that sell the products and sued there. The conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the lawsuit to go forward, finding that anyone whose business is hurt by the FDA decision can sue. The agency appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that R.J. Reynolds was trying to find a court friendly to its arguments, a practice often called 'judge shopping.' The justices, though, found that the law does allow other businesses affected by the FDA decisions, like e-cigarette sellers, to sue in their home states. In a dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said she would have sided with the agency and limited where the cases can be filed. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called the majority decision disappointing, saying it would allow manufacturers to 'judge shop,' though it said the companies will still have to contend with the Supreme Court's April decision. Attorney Ryan Watson, who represented R.J. Reynolds, said that the court recognized that agency decisions can have devastating downstream effects on retailers and other businesses, and the decision 'ensures that the courthouse doors are not closed' to them. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of the Supreme Court at
Washington Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
R.J. Reynolds wins at Supreme Court on how to challenge FDA vape rulings
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected government effort to narrow options for challenging Food and Drug Administration denials of applications to market e-cigarettes, including flavored products that health officials say have led to a youth vaping epidemic. In a case that centered on questions of venue-shopping, the justices ruled 7-2 that tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds was allowed to ask a conservative appeals court far from its North Carolina home to examine an FDA rejection of its bid to market menthol cigarettes. The FDA told the justices that R.J. Reynolds and other e-cigarette manufacturers were gaming court system rules by filing the vast majority of product-denial appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, based in New Orleans, which is widely seen as more sympathetic to their arguments. The FDA said the tactic was hindering the agency's ability to regulate vapes that are used by hundreds of thousands of teenagers. In the case before the justices, the 5th Circuit overturned the FDA's denial of an R.J. Reynolds application. 'In 2024, by our count … about 75 percent of e-cigarette cases were filed … in the 5th Circuit, all of them by out-of-circuit applicants trying to use the tactic,' Vivek Suri, an assistant to the solicitor general who is representing the FDA, said at oral arguments in January. Under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, manufacturers must get FDA approval to sell some existing products, as well as new products, that are marketed in more than one state. The Vuse line of menthol vapes are the ones in question in the R.J. Reynolds case. Ryan J. Watson, who is representing R.J. Reynolds, told the justices at oral arguments that the company was permitted to file a challenge in the 5th Circuit because the act allows 'any person adversely affected' by a denial to file a challenge in the District of Columbia Circuit or the 'circuit in which such person resides or has their principal place of business.' R.J. Reynolds partnered with a Texas vape store and the Mississippi Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association to bring the challenge to the FDA ruling. The 5th Circuit covers Texas and Mississippi, while R.J. Reynolds is in the 4th Circuit. Suri, arguing on behalf of the government, said Congress never meant for retailers to be parties to such litigation when it passed the act. He pointed out that retailers aren't notified when the FDA rejects manufacturers' applications to market vaping products and said the tactic defeats the venue restrictions laid out in the law. In a separate case decided in April, the high court ruled unanimously that the FDA properly rejected applications to market fruit- and dessert-flavored liquids for electronic cigarettes that the agency says are popular with young people and risk them getting hooked on nicotine. The products had names such as 'Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry,' 'Suicide Bunny Mother's Milk and Cookies,' 'Iced Lemonade' and 'Killer Kustard Blueberry.' An e-cigarette or vape is a battery-powered device that heats a nicotine-infused liquid, turning it into a vapor that is inhaled. E-cigarettes are generally considered less harmful than traditional cigarettes but still carry health risks. The FDA has moved aggressively to regulate flavored vapes in recent years because of their popularity with young people. A 2024 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that e-cigarettes were the most common tobacco product used by middle-schoolers and high-schoolers. About 1.6 million students use e-cigarettes, according to the survey, which amounts to about 6 percent of the middle and high school population. Nearly 90 percent of those who vape prefer the flavored liquids, according to the survey. Overall, youth vaping has declined significantly after reaching a peak in 2019. This is a developing story. It will be updated.
