Remember the great lawsuit against Big Tobacco? It was a noble crusade to make the tobacco companies pay for the damage they have
done to smokers. Well, not exactly. They are going to pay state governments
to compensate them for the extra health costs of smokers. Well, not exactly,
because smokers die early and cost government less than ordinary folk.
So what is going on with the great Tobacco Deal?
Smokers are going to pay tobacco companies who are going to pay state governments
and lawyers about $250 billion over 25 years.
But wait a minute. Can they do this? Doesn’t the U.S. Constitution forbid
the states from acting in concert without the consent of Congress as in
“Article I, Section 10 — the compacts clause — that “No state shall,
without the consent of
Congress ... , enter into any agreement or compact with another state.’”
That is what the Competitive Enterprise Institute is wondering, and it
is suing to have the whole Tobacco Deal declared unconstitutional.
You think they got a chance? Maybe, writes
Jonathan Rauch.
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