No Donut for DOJ

Today, the Supreme Court denied cert. in United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc., et al., rejecting DOJ's effort to resurrect its claim for $149 billion in disgorgement. Earlier this year, the D.C. Circuit determined that the statute under which the Government brought suit -- 18 U.S.C. 1964(a) -- does not permit a court to order disgorgement but rather is limited to forward-looking remedies such as divestiture.

Although this is a big win for the industry, the Government's lawyers are creative and will no doubt seek to bleed the industry via other more forward-looking means. Congrats all around to the industry's lawyers (Winston, A&P, Jones Day, Thompson Coburn, Kirkland etc.). SCOTUSblog has an update on this and the day's other orders.