PHILIP MORRIS INC. v. HARSHBARGER

Nos. 97-8022, 97-8023.

122 F.3d 58 (1997)

PHILIP MORRIS INCORPORATED, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, and Lorillard Tobacco Company, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. L. Scott HARSHBARGER, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and David H. Mulligan, Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, Defendants, Appellees. UNITED STATES TOBACCO COMPANY, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, Conwood Company, L.P., National Tobacco Company, L.P., The Pinkerton Tobacco Company, and Swisher International, Inc., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. L. Scott HARSHBARGER, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and David H. Mulligan, Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, Defendants, Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Decided August 18, 1997.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Henry C. Dinger, P.C., with whom Cerise Lim-Epstein, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, LLP, Boston, MA, Verne W. Vance, Jr., Foley, Hoag & Eliot, Herbert Dym, E. Edward Bruce, David H. Remes, Jarrett A. Williams, Jason A. Levine, and Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, were on brief for Philip Morris appellants.

George J. Skelly, with whom Thomas J. Dougherty, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, A. Hugh Scott, Denise W. DeFranco, Choate, Hall & Stewart, Boston, MA, John L. Oberdorfer, Stuart M. Pape, G. Kendrick MacDowell, and Patton Boggs, L.L.P., Washington, DC, were on brief for United States Tobacco Company appellants.

Rebecca P. McIntyre, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Thomas A. Barnico, Assistant Attorney General and L. Scott Harshbarger, Attorney General, Boston, MA, were on brief for appellees.

Carol J. Bennett, James P. Jacobson, Ann Beimdiek Kinsella, D. Douglas Blanke, Attorneys for State of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey III, Attorney General for State of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, Grant Woods, Attorney General for State of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, Winston Bryant, Attorney General for State of Arkansas, Daniel E. Lundgren, Attorney General for State of California, Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General for State of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General for State of Florida, Tallahassee, FL, Margery S. Bronster, Attorney General for State of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, James E. Ryan, Attorney General for State of Illinois, Chicago, IL, Jeffrey A. Modisett, Attorney General for State of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN, Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General for State of Iowa, Des Moines, IA, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General for State of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General for State of Michigan, Lansing, MI, Mike Moore, Attorney General for State of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Attorney General for State of Missouri, Jefferson City, MO, Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General for State of Montana, Helena, MT, Frankie Sue Del Papa, Attorney General for State of Nevada, Carson City, NV, Peter Verniero, Attorney General for State of New Jersey, Tom Udall, Attorney General for State of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM, Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General for State of New York, Brooklyn, NY, Heidi Heitkamp, Attorney General for State of North Dakota, Bismarck, ND, Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General for State of Ohio, Columbus, OH, W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General for State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK, Hardy Myers, Attorney General for State of Oregon, Salem, OR, D. Michael Fisher, Attorney General for State of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, Jeffrey B. Pine, Attorney General for State of Rhode Island, Providence, RI, Mark Barnett, Attorney General for State of South Dakota, Pierre, SD, Dan Morales, Attorney General for State of Texas, Austin, TX, Jan Graham, Attorney General for State of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, William Sorrell, Attorney General for State of Vermont, Burlington, VT, Christine O. Gregoire, Attorney General for State of Washington, Olympia, WA, Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General for State of West Virginia, Charleston, WV, James E. Doyle, Attorney General for State of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, Louise H. Renne, City Attorney, City of San Francisco, CA, Elizabeth D. Laporte, Chief of Special Litigation, City of San Francisco, CA, and Andrew Y.S. Cheng, Deputy City Attorney, City of San Francisco, CA, San Francisco, CA, on brief amici curiae.

Before TORRUELLA, Chief Judge, CAMPBELL, Senior Circuit Judge, and STAHL, Circuit Judge.


STAHL, Circuit Judge.

This appeal implicates the constitutionality of a Massachusetts statute requiring manufacturers of tobacco products to disclose the additives and nicotine-yield ratings of their products to the state's public health department. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94, § 307B (the "Disclosure Act"). Plaintiffs-appellants, various manufacturers of cigarette and smokeless tobacco products (collectively, "the manufacturers"),1

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