The United States Supreme Court has rejected a four-year-old Maine law that aimed to keep transportation companies from delivering cigarettes bought online to minors, CNN.com reported.
The court ruled in a unanimous decision that Maine could not regulate private motor carriers, like UPS and FedEx, because the federal interstate commerce authority trumped state public health policies.
Maine’s law required that delivery services only accept package orders with tobacco from licensed retailers and deliver them to someone with proper identification. Shipping firms complained that the law put too much responsibility on their delivery personnel to curtail underage smoking, and cost them time and money while increasing their potential liability, CNN.com reported.