Two tobacco companies will not get to plead their case before the Supreme Court over how California is spending cigarette tax money. The state uses part of an 87-cent tax on every package of cigarettes to fund health education that includes a campaign to discourage smoking.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Lorillard Tobacco Company had asked the Supreme Court Justices to overturn a lower court's decision that rejected the companies' claims that their First Amendment rights were violated by California's ad campaign.