| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | FDA wants to regulate the sale of cigarettes to minors. Plenty of good reasons to do so. |
| Posture: | Suit challenges the jurisdiction of FDA. Ct. App. 4th Cir. finds for the tobacco manufacturers. |
| Issue: | Does the FDA have the authority to regulate tobacco products? |
| Holding: | No. |
| Rule: | Congress has explicitly expressed support for the tobacco industry; they couldn't simultaneously intend to outlaw it. |
| Reasoning: | If congress has directly spoken on an issue, that's dispositive. Tobacco is unsafe, and if FDA has jurisdiction here, it would have to be taken off the market. Congress, however, has actually legislated to the effect that tobacco is strategic to the nation's welfare. And they've legislated on health-related tobacco topics six times since 1965. Unreasonable, therefore, to think that they intend it to be wiped out altogether. |
| Dicta: | Breyer (dissenting): things change, you know. We have a lot more evidence nowadays, we have a new administration. They're supposed to change course based on new ideas: that's why we elect them. |