July 19, 2005
About Face
Over a month ago, I posted on the government's pulling its punch in the anti-racketeering suit against the Tobacco Industry. Instead of seeking $130 billion in damages, as everyone expected and their own expert analysis recommended, the Justice Dept. asked for only $10 billion. At the time, it appeared that there was a little political mischief going on.
Today, they reversed themselves and asked for the full amount again. Not only that, but they want access to $280 billion in past profits. There seems to be some confusion as to whether the damages sought relate to those past profits or not:
The decision to appeal was another shift for the government in the six-year-old case. At the close of a nine-month trial, Justice Department lawyers stunned a federal courtroom last month by cutting the amount of damages they were seeking to $10 billion from $130 billion.Senior Justice Department officials said they had little choice but to reduce their demands, in light of the adverse decision in February by the circuit court for the District of Columbia.
From that last sentence, it sounds like that February ruling required them to reduce their damage demands from the expected $130 billion. But why was the move - in June, four months after that ruling - so shocking to everyone? And why the sudden reversal?
But internal Justice Department documents showed that the decision drew fierce objections from the career lawyers on the tobacco team, who said it was legally groundless, would be seen as politically driven and would undermine the department's position in possible settlement discussions with the tobacco industry. Several members of the trial team threatened to quit over the decision, officials said.Health advocates and Democrats in Congress also objected to the decision to reduce the requested damages, prompting the Justice Department to open an ethics inquiry, still under way, into charges of political interference.
Sounds like there's some intense stuff going on under the surface over at Justice.
Posted by ben at July 19, 2005 06:55 AM