High court turns down both sides in tobacco fight

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has rejected appeals by the
Obama administration and the nation’s largest tobacco companies to
get involved in a legal fight about the dangers of cigarette
smoking that has stretched more than 10 years.

The court’s action, issued without comment Monday, leaves in
place court rulings that the tobacco industry illegally concealed
the dangers of smoking for decades. But it also prevents the
administration from trying to extract billions of dollars from the
industry either in past profits or to fund a national campaign to
curb smoking.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)