High court undoes Scalia's pro-tobacco order

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia exercised a rarely used power last fall to let Philip Morris USA and three other big tobacco companies delay making multimillion-dollar payments for a program to help people quit smoking.

Scalia, who is a cigarette smoker himself, justified acting on his own by predicting that at least three other justices would see things his way and want to hear the case, and that the high court then would probably strike down the expensive judgment against the companies.

This week, the court said Scalia was wrong about that. The justices rejected the cigarette makers' appeal in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of smokers in Louisiana.

The court's action had the effect of re-imposing the companies' obligation to pay for the smoking cessation program.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110630/D9O628080.html

---

In this Sept. 8, 2010 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

[aquart]

1. I hope they send him lots of free cigarettes.

[RyanPsych]

7. Seriously...smoke it up Scalia!

And hope Obama is around is nominate an extra justice :)

[AndyTiedye]

43. Scalia Should Go Hunting With Dick Cheney Some More

and bring plenty of :beer: :beer: :beer:

[Deep13]

63. Is Tony aware that they are available without filters? nt

[dflprincess]

68. Better yet, we find a stash of Kent cigarettes from the 1950s

when they were using asbestos in the filter and send them to him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_(cigarette)

Kent is a brand of cigarettes. Kent's Micronite filter was introduced shortly after the publication of a series of articles in Reader's Digest in 1952 entitled "Cancer by the Carton", that scared American consumers into seeking out a filter brand at a time when most brands were filterless. (Viceroy cigarettes had been the first to introduce filters, in 1936.)

From March 1952 until at least May 1956, however, the Micronite filter in Kent cigarettes contained carcinogenic blue asbestos.<1> Kent now uses charcoal filters (a form of activated carbon).

[No Elephants]

2. Whatr Scalia said, "I'm sure at least three other justices will see it my way."

What Scalia was really thinking: "Roberts, Alito and Thomas are in my pocket. Kennedy usually joins us, but the turd is unpredictable."

[lark]

49. Too f*ing true

:spank:

[MilesColtrane]

3. I didn't know he was a smoker.

Enjoy them in health, sir.


(ack)

[cosmicone]

4. Maybe there would be a vacancy soon....

Smoke it up Scalia :)

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. I'd be so tempted to send him a pack to enjoy on the fourth.

[Jester Messiah]

17. Yeah, I was glad to see that too.

Smoke up, you fat fascist jerkass.

[lark]

50. Mind if I change this up a bit?

How about enjoy them in great quantities, until ill health brings you down.

[madrchsod]

5. when ever i see him or read about him....

i understand why his daughter is a drunk.....

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/drunk-driving-bust-scalia-kin

[blue neen]

21. Interesting.

I'd never seen that before.

It sure makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[Divernan]

24. Scalia has 9 kids - wonder how many of them are Opus Dei.

From the smoking gun link above:

FEBRUARY 14--Meet Ann Banaszewski. The 45-year-old daughter of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was arrested Monday night on drunk driving and child endangerment raps. The Illinois resident, one of the jurist's nine children, was pulled over by Wheaton Police Department officers after driving away from a McDonald's. Cops had been responding to a report of a possible intoxicated motorist at the fast food restaurant, according to a news release. Banaszewski, who had three children in her vehicle, was nabbed after officers found probable cause that she was driving while impaired. Banaszewski was booked for DUI and endangering the life of a child. After posing for the below mug shot, she was released on a personal recognizance bond and will eventually appear in DuPage Circuit Court. (2 pages)

[Myrina]

25. "will eventually appear in ... court" ....

With Fat Tony as her dad? Anybody wanna guess whether or not she ever actually had to go to court, or if those charges mysteriously vanished?

:shrug:

[onenote]

28. Here's how her case was resolved

A daughter of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia pleaded guilty Wednesday to drunken driving in Wheaton in February….
Banaszewski accepted a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced by DuPage County Judge Daniel Guerin to 18 months of court supervision. She also was ordered to perform 140 hours of public service (of which 40 hours must be beneficial to children), attend counseling and treatment sessions, attend a victim-impact panel and pay $1,500 in fines and fees.
http://abovethelaw.com/ann-banaszewski/

[brendan120678]

34. Sounds like a fair sentence actually, IMO... (nt)

[onenote]

42. Assuming she had no priors, its pretty much in line with what you'd expect

[Oldtimeralso]

40. How Many are Opus Dei

I think that at least one of "Fat Tony's" offspring is a priest.

[BeyondGeography]

6. More of a cartoon character than a judge

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. A corrupt one

[defendandprotect]

26. +1 --

[wilt the stilt]

9. cancer or a heart attack?

I prefer the latter. A heart attack is quick but if I have ever seen someone who deserves the withering death of cancer it is this putz. You just can't make it much past 75 if you are fat and smoke.

[AlbertCat]

37. cancer or a heart attack?

It'll have to be cancer, because I'm sure he'd just get Dick Cheney's old artificial hearts to use.... for decades.

[valerief]

62. Why not hope for both? nt

[Javaman]

10. Anyway to find out how the vote came out?

who voted?

[onenote]

18. typically votes denying cert are not disclosed

I checked and the petition for cert in this case was denied without comment.

[tomm2thumbs]

11. OUCH! Talk about being embarrassed by your own -- poor thang

Love the picture of Scalia holding his invisible cigarette

[NoodleyAppendage]

14. For Scalia to be embarrassed would require a CONSCIENCE. He has none.

Nothing embarrasses Scalia or his ilk.

J

[Zoeisright]

12. I certainly wish HE'D be a tobacco victim. That would make the world a much, much

better place.

[wordpix]

13. Fat Tony & Boehner, keep smoking it up

:)

[bemildred]

16. Let's all send him a carton of Camels. nt

[benld74]

19. Like the song says Scalia, 'Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that cigarette!"

[Iggo]

20. Smoke up, Tony. (n/t)

[Kolesar]

22. His skin looks like dried shit--his circulation has to be compromised

Including those important blood vessels in his heart

[LynneSin]

23. That's the crazy thing about smoking - it kills the good ones young, like my father...

but the bastards like Scalia some how manages to survive all these years

:grr:

[Selena Harris]

27. Looks like more than one Supreme is blowing smoke..

Sat Jan-16-10

AP Exclusive: Tobacco's plea — no big US payments
Source: AP

WASHINGTON – Tobacco industry lawyers met secretly with Solicitor General Elena Kagan in an effort to avoid the government's last-ditch attempt to extract billions from companies that illegally concealed the dangers of cigarette smoking, The Associated Press has learned.

Four cigarette makers that control nearly 90 percent of U.S. retail cigarette sales have until Feb. 19 to persuade the government not to go to the Supreme Court and ask the justices to step into a landmark 10-year-old racketeering lawsuit.

In 2006, a judge ruled that the industry concealed the dangers of smoking for decades. Despite that finding, lower courts have said the government is not entitled to collect $280 billion in past profits or $14 billion for a national campaign to curb smoking.

As part of any effort to convince the government that it should skip a trip to the Supreme Court, the tobacco companies may have to drop plans to ask the justices to overturn the ruling that the industry engaged in racketeering.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116/ap_on_bi_ge/us_toba...

NOTE: This was mere weeks before Kagan's appointment to SCOTUS.

[slackmaster]

29. Headline should say "High court snuffs out Scalia's pro-tobacco order"

Writing is dead.

[ooglymoogly]

30. I hope this lying hypocrite is the kind who tears the filters off

before he indulges his deadly drug habit.

[craigmatic]

31. Scalia, Thomas and Roberts need to be impeached.

[polichick]

39. If justice actually did prevail in this country, they would be.

[totodeinhere]

45. You forgot to add Alito to the list. n/t

[annabanana]

66. I think HE'S the creepiest...

very strange affect; bloodless.

[SoapBox]

32. Hey Judge Evil...I've got something for you...

*finger*

Oh ya...and I wish you would smoke, smoke and SMOKE until you are, well, DOA.

[geardaddy]

33. Suck on it, Twat Tony.

[xxqqqzme]

35. So fat Tony smokes -

Best new thing I've learned this year.

[Hubert Flottz]

36. I keep expecting to see the horns and tail sprout on that shitbag.

You can see the insanity in that face.

[Blue Owl]

38. He'll probably live to 110 and not retire, the way things seem to work :(

n/t

[Action]

41. I love it!

Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette! We can only hope that you will have to step down and/or leave the planet soon.

[LongTomH]

44. Scalia is 75 and he's obese and he's smoking!

I just looked him up on Wikipedia: "Antonin Gregory Scalia born March 11, 1936).

You're gonna love this: He's got an entry on DickipediA: A Wiki of Dicks.

Antonin Gregory Scalia (born March 11, 1936<1>) is an American jurist, Supreme Court Justice, and a dick.

He is the number two most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and the number one dickiest, a not accomplishment considering the presence of Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and John Roberts.

They go on to speculate:

Antonin Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and attended the prestigious Xavier High School, a Catholic and Jesuit school in Manhattan. It is unknown whether Scalia was abused by any of the Catholic priests he studied under, but, as some legal scholars have noted, the effects of such abuse might be a possible explanation for his otherwise puzzling legal theories.

I am gonna have to bookmark DickipediA:evilgrin:

[totodeinhere]

47. Speculating that he might have been abused by any of the Catholic priests

without any evidence to back that up is a cheap shot. Plenty of people including me attended Catholic schools and were not abused. When abuse occurs in any school, of course that is very wrong and it needs to be investigated and prosecuted, but I suspect that most students in Catholic schools are not abused just like I wasn't.

[LongTomH]

53. OK, Agreed! My apologies on that!

But, he's still a dick!

[totodeinhere]

59. I agree on the dick part. Thanks. n/t

[toddwv]

46. We should start a fund.

Use it to send Scalia a carton of cigarettes and a tub of transfats each day.

[Corruption Winz]

48. This is all a waste of time...

Waste of tax-payers money in general. I couldn't care less who is smoking. It doesn't effect me and if it did, it would be because I was a smoker. Stop wasting people's time and money and start fighting for real issues.

For the record, I don't believe in the "risks" of second-hand smoke. Fighting tobacco companies is a big money-grab for the government that they get away with by saying it's for our safety. It's not. It's a waste of EVERYTHING.

[BlueMTexpat]

51. As someone who had very real physical symptoms, including violent sneezing, nausea,

violent headaches and vomiting, as a result of secondhand smoke - or even residual smoke odor from curtains and carpets, I could care less whether you BELIEVE in the "risks" of secondhand smoke or not. The fact is, they are not "risks," they are real. This has been demonstrated time and time again. But I guess that's not enough for you.

In the last few years of my professional life, smoking was finally banned from my workplace. It is amazing how healthy not only I, but all others, including those who began to smoke less as a result, have remained since.

The secondhand smoke-related costs are literally overwhelming health care systems, which is why enlightened people around the globe are standing up to Big Tobacco. Bravo Australia, for example!

One must be in decent health to fight for "real" issues, after all.

[Corruption Winz]

56. The symptoms you mentioned are irritations...

they aren't deadly if handled correctly. Are they? So, maybe you should READ what I say, whether or not you CARE about what I "BELIEVE."

If you're asthmatics or allergic to the smoke, that's different. In that sense, peanuts could be deadly if I was allergic.

The problem with this idea that second-hand smoke is deadly is that it's not provable from either side. You say you are all healthier now? I can ask you to prove it and that ends that discussion.

The fact is that the studies don't prove it either way. At best, the jury is still out.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2554/does-second-hand-smoke-really-cause-cancer

[lob1]

55. Yeah, saving people's lives is a waste of time.

You don't believe 2nd hand smoke is a "risk". You must be a climate change denier, too. Smoking can kill you. Ask my two brothers who died from lung cancer, or ask me, as I managed to beat throat cancer.

[Corruption Winz]

57. No, you must kick babies like soccer balls, though.....

See, it's dumb to make completely unrelated assumptions about people. Isn't it?

I'm not denying the danger of someone SMOKING. I'm denying the danger of second hand smoke.

The American Council On Science And Health:
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.215/news_detail.asp

The Cato Institute:
http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast/science-secondhand-smoke

The odds of someone dying of lung cancer, for example, are 1:100,000. People exposed to second hand smoke have a 1:80,000 chance.

Sounds like a big deal? Not so much. Out of a million people, it means that the difference is less than three people. Statistically, it's a non-issue.

I'm sorry about you and your brothers. Truthfully am. But to suggest that second hand smoke had anything to do with it isn't backed with scientific evidence. It just isn't.

[lob1]

60. Seems like a lot of statistics don't agree with yours, including

the National Cancer Institute. By the way, this was just page 1 of my Google search. There are at least 20 pages more.

Tobacco Use and Secondhand Smoke Statistics
my.clevelandclinic.org/tobacco/statistics_about_tobacco_use.aspx - CachedGet statistics on tobacco use and its side effects, including the dangers of secondhand smoke exposure,
►
CDC - Fact Sheet - Secondhand Smoke Facts - Smoking & Tobacco Use
www.cdc.gov/tobacco/...statistics/.../secondhand_smoke/.../index.ht... - CachedMar 21, 2011 – Data and Statistics · Surgeon General's Reports ... Secondhand smoke is a mixture of gases and fine particles that includes— ... bronchitis, pneumonia); A greater risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) ...
Secondhand Smoke | Effects of Secondhand Smoke
quitsmoking.about.com/cs/secondhandsmoke/.../secondhandsmoke... - CachedThe effects of secondhand smoke are dangerous to anyone who breathes it ... children and secondhand smoke · tobacco statistics ... Low birthweight for gestational age; Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)- children whose mothers smoked ...
Second Hand Smoke Statistics
www.quit-smoking-stop.com/second-hand-smoke-statistics.html - CachedFrom SECOND HAND SMOKE STATISTICS to Quit Smoking Stop ... "Secondhand smoke causes almost 50000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, ...
Secondhand Smoke and Cancer - National Cancer Institute
www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/ETS - CachedSecondhand smoke has also been associated with heart disease in adults and sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, and asthma attacks in children ( see ...
WHO | 10 facts on second-hand smoke
www.who.int/features/factfiles/tobacco/en/index.html - CachedSecond-hand smoke accounts for one in 10 tobacco-related deaths. ... Report on global public health and key statistics; World health statistics report ...
second hand smoking facts - statistics, children, effects, deaths ...
www.quit-smoking-central.com/second-hand-smoking-facts.html - Cachedsecond hand smoking facts. Quick point presentation of second hand smoking truths.
Secondhand Smoke
www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/.../secondhand-smoke - CachedNov 9, 2010 – Non-smokers who breathe in secondhand smoke take in nicotine and other toxic ... Secondhand smoke causes other kinds of diseases and deaths ...
ETS and Second Hand Smoke
www.smokingaloud.com/ets.html - Cached"The scientific evidence is now indisputable: second-hand smoke is not a mere ... that can lead to disease and premature death in children and nonsmoking adults." ... The statistical associations in the Health Canada study are weak. ...
Second Hand Smoke Statistics - Top 10 Second Hand Smoke Statistics ...
www.instah.com › Quit Smoking - CachedNov 20, 2010 – Second hand smoke statistics are compiled by taken into account the exposure ... 46000 deaths are reported owing to heart ailments caused by ...

[Corruption Winz]

71. You know the problem with your statistics?

They get their data from the same EPA report that has been proven to be fraudulent and debunked.

[brainfan]

72. Debunked by frauds?

And you think citing industry-funded front groups is less biased?

[markpkessinger]

52. Wow. The Roberts Court does the right thing for a change...

...Who'da thought?

[nolabels]

70. Little piecemeal deeds from a group of passive aggressives

They want to put you and or the rest of us at ease so when the stick it next time we won't be as ready for it and they will get that enhanced sadistic response that makes them feel normal to themselves. The sadistic person always needs to feel as if they are in control. I was thinking they were going to give us these little trinkets all along. Expect more of these inconsequential bits, it's all just a ploy.

[DFW]

54. Let's all send him cartons of Gauloises, unfiltered

Like one a day until his next checkup. Then two a day if he still checks out healthy.

[tabasco]

58. My smoker friend was just diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.

He will likely not last a year.

[fascisthunter]

65. I'm Very Sorry for Your Friend

cancer is a nasty way to go, and unfortunately more and more of us are dying from it.

[valerief]

61. He smokes? Hallelujah! Heart attack, go to work!!! nt

[fascisthunter]

64. We Should Start a Fundraiser to buy him Cigarettes

[and-justice-for-all]

67. They need to do the same with that 'Corporations are people' atrocity! nt

[McCamy Taylor]

69. Another blatant abuse of power by Scalia. He should personally pay the interest on the money that

the smoking cessation programs were was not paid for almost a year---and pay for all the cigarettes that the people who could have been helped by these programs bought. Maybe that would teach him not to abuse his power.