Feds Seek Court Review of Cigarette Pack Warnings

Graphic ads had been denied for First Amendment reasons

The U.S. government is asking a federal appeals court to rehear a challenge to a Food and Drug Administration requirement that tobacco companies put large graphic health warnings on cigarette packages to show that smoking can disfigure and even kill people.

The Justice Department filed a petition Tuesday asking for the full court to rehear the case after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington affirmed in August a lower court ruling blocking the mandate, saying it ran afoul of the First Amendment's free speech protections. However, the court rarely grants such appeals.