Supreme Court Backs State Consumer Protection Law
The Supreme Court affirmed the authority of states to establish safeguards that provide stronger consumer protections than federal laws. Cigarette companies challenged a Maine consumer protection law that prohibits unfair or deceptive trade practices, claiming that a weaker federal law "pre-empted" the Maine measure. However, the Supreme Court upheld the state protections, holding that the Maine law was not pre-empted by the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act or federal regulators' authority. Many states have passed strong consumer privacy laws that private companies hope to preempt with weaker federal laws. The decision also follows President-elect Barack Obama's statement that "a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory." Obama's statement echoes Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who advocated for state lawmakers' broad freedom to create innovative consumer protections as "laboratories of democracy."
