WACCO TOBACCO COMPANY, - chicagobar 2025

The document is a legal brief for the respondent, Ohiowa Tobacco Enforcement Unit, in a case before the Supreme Court concerning the constitutionality of a graphic warning requirement on cigarette packaging mandated by state law. The petitioner, Wacco Tobacco Company, challenges this requirement as a violation of their First Amendment rights. The brief argues that the graphic warnings are factual and serve a legitimate government interest in reducing smoking rates by effectively communicating health risks. It contends that the Zauderer standard applies, which allows for lower scrutiny of compelled disclosures that are purely factual and uncontroversial, rather than the stricter Central Hudson standard typically applied to restrictions on commercial speech.