Fair use:
Finally, one liberal tells it like it is….
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ROBERT REICH SAYS JUSTICE DEPT. LAWSUITS THREATEN DEMOCRACY

The Clinton administration is making “blatant end-runs around
the democratic process” in pursuing lawsuits against tobacco
companies and gunmakers, says former Labor Secretary Robert
Reich. And he warns liberals that “You might approve the
outcomes in these two cases, but they establish a precedent for
other cases you might find wildly unjust.”

The administration is using “novel legal theories” that “give
the administration extraordinary discretion to decide who’s
misleading the public and whose products are defective,” says
Reich.

o The Justice Department is going after the tobacco
companies with a law designed to fight mobsters — the
1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
(RICO) chapter of the Organized Crime Control Act.

o And the administration will offer “legal advice” to
public housing authorities organized under the Department
of Housing and Urban Development, who are suing gun
makers for negligence — alleging that gunmakers sold
defective products they knew or should have known would
harm people.

Using these standards, the entire advertising industry and
makers of any product that might result in death — from alcohol
to sharp cooking utensils — is in trouble.

“Worse, no judge will ever scrutinize these theories….The goal
of both efforts is to threaten the industries with the risk of
such large penalties that they’ll agree to a deal…..”

“American politics is rotting,” says Reich, “….But the way to
fix everything isn’t to turn our backs on the democratic process
and pursue litigation as the administration is doing.”

Source: Robert B. Reich, “Smoking, Guns,” American Prospect,
January 17, 2000.

For more on Liability and Guns

http://www.ncpa.org/pi/crime/crime51.html

For more on Tobacco Company Suits
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/law/mcc/index4c.html