Court upholds ban on cigarette, liquor billboards

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday turned down a request to hear a challenge to two Baltimore city ordinances prohibiting billboard advertising of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages in areas where children gather.

The Supreme Court action lets stand a lower court ruling that such a ban does not violate the free-speech rights of tobacco firms, breweries, and distilleries. The 1994 ordinances were challenged by Anheuser-Busch and a Baltimore billboard company.

As is customary in rejecting appeals, the justices did not comment on the matter.

Richard Daynard, head of the Boston-based Tobacco Liability Project, called the decision "wonderful news."

"It means that when governmental restrictions on cigarette ads on a national basis do come into play, they'll clearly be constitutional," Daynard said.

On a separate legal question involving the limits of the federal Food and Drug Administration's regulatory authority, a lower court judge in North Carolina last week ruled the FDA cannot regulate cigarette advertising.

In other action Monday, the court:

-- ruled in a 5-4 vote that a local government cannot be sued when a police officer with a history of misdemeanor convictions uses excessive force.

-- unanimously refused to grant police officers armed with search warrants the right to enter homes without knocking at any time.

-- let stand a lower court ruling that Libya has sovereign immunity shielding it from a lawsuit filed on behalf of a victim of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

-- in a 6-3 ruling, agreed that states can prevent political candidates from representing more than one political party on an election ballot.

-- without comment refused to reinstate an invalidated Flint, Michigan, affirmative action plan for promoting police officers to sergeant. A group of white officers had challenged the plan claming it violated their equal protection rights.

-- without comment let stand rulings limiting the libel award won by comic Rodney Dangerfield in a lawsuit he filed against supermarket tabloid Star magazine for labeling him a drunkard and drug user.

-- ruled unanimously that Native American tribal courts in general do not have jurisdiction to hear lawsuits between non-Indians who have traffic accidents on state highways running through tribal land.

-- agreed to hear the case of a woman born out of wedlock in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipino mother to determine if she is a U.S. citizen.

-- agreed to hear an appeal from a convicted Virginia murderer who argues that juries hearing cases that could involve the death penalty should hear a jury instruction on factors weighing against the death penalty.

Interact Political impact Business impact Legal issues Medical issues Related sites

Related stories:

• Supreme Court rejects tobacco challenge to Florida law - March 17, 1997
• Liquor ads pour back onto airwaves - June 12, 1996

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Tobacco Control Resource Center
• Children and Tobacco - from the FDA

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

Search for related CNN stories:   [Help] Tip: You can restrict your search to the title of a document. Example: title:New Year's Resolutions

Sound off on our message boards Tell us what you think! You said it...

© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.