In a two-page order, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam granted a request filed last week jointly by both the government defendants and the public health advocates who filed the lawsuit, seeking a stay on the proceedings until mid-August. The lawsuit filed by anti-tobacco groups seeking to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s delay to ban menthol cigarettes was paused by a federal judge in response to moves made by the Trump administration.
Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. for the US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a stay in the case between the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council and the FDA over whether the agency lawfully delayed a Biden-era final rule that would ban menthol cigarettes from store shelves.
Both parties in a joint submission proposed the stay on Feb. 18.
In late January, the FDA withdrew its proposed rules to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and all characterizing flavors in cigars.
“The recent withdrawal of both proposed federal flavor bans is compelling evidence that the Trump administration is taking a less aggressive rulemaking posture compared to the Biden administration,” Troutman Pepper Locke wrote on its Tobacco Law Blog. “The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs withdrawal filings do not detail the reasoning behind the decision. However, several comments submitted during each proposed rule’s comment period detail ample justifications for withdrawing the proposals.
“With respect to the menthol cigarette ban, industry argued that illicit markets would proliferate, fed by consumer demand for menthol cigarettes despite the proposed prohibition.”