Judge Orders Tobacco Companies to Admit Deception Publicly

Major tobacco companies must take out advertisements saying they deliberately deceived the U.S. public about the danger and addictiveness of cigarettes, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

The ruling in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia attempts to finalize the wording of the advertisements that the judge first ordered in 2006 after finding the companies violated federal racketeering law.

Tobacco companies fought a public admission of deception, calling it a violation of their free speech rights.