Supreme Court to hear tobacco jurisdiction case News
Supreme Court to hear tobacco jurisdiction case

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] Friday granted certiorari in four cases [order list, PDF], including one that will determine if tobacco companies are protected from judgments in state courts on the grounds that cigarettes are federally regulated. The appeal, Watson v. Philip Morris, Cos. (05-1284) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], was filed by two Arkansas women who found their state court case against Philip Morris [corporate website] for advertising claims of low tar and nicotine in “light” cigarettes, being removed to federal jurisdiction. Philip Morris argued that the “unprecedented, detailed, and direct control” exerted by the Federal Trade Commission [official website] over cigarette advertising made the company a “person acting under” a federal officer, and convinced [opinion, PDF] the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] that removal on those grounds were justified. AP has more.

In Hinck v. US (06-376) [docket; question presented, PDF], the court will determine the scope of jurisdiction held by the US Tax Court [official website]. In Struhs, et al., v. Wyner (06-531) [docket; question presented, PDF], the justices will examine in what situations attorney fees may be awarded to a victorious party. Finally, the court in Uttecht v. Brown (06-413) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] will examine whether federal courts can overturn a state court decision to remove a juror based on their views on capital punishment. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Bank of England granted political independence

On May 6, 1997, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announced that the Bank of England would be granted political independence for the first time in the three-hundred year history of the Bank. This policy was statutized in the subsequent Bank of England Act of 1998 gave the Bank independent control of British monetary policy effective June 1, 1998. Read the Bank of England Act of 1998.

Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese laborers from US

On May 6, 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring Chinese laborers from entering the United States and prohibiting courts from bestowing US citizenship on Chinese. Connecticut Senator Joseph Hawley spoke out against the Act in these words: Let the proposed statue be read 100 years hence, dug out of the dust of ages and forgotten as it will be except for a line of sneer by some historian, and ask the young man not well read in the history of this country what was the reason for excluding these men and he would not be able to find it in the law. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and its successors were abolished in 1943 at the insistence of President Franklin Roosevelt.