Courtroom drama: the battle begins to save vaping - Vaping360
First article I've been able to find. Tell a friend. Tell a family member. Tell CONGRESS PERSON!! Change the date!! No it isn't a final solution but it would grant more time for bias to change and those pesky "long term" studies to develop.
If, as the linked article suggests, this judge still doesn't understand the difference between open and closed system products and plaintiffs' counsel failed to explain it to her, there's a serious and fundamental problem with the way this case is being presented.
I was glad the judge expressed interest in whether the FDA was required to conduct a cost/benefit analysis because the FDA's cost/benefit analysis was essentially nonexistent. If she concludes that it was required, she'll rule for the plaintiffs. Of course, an argument can be made that it isn't required because the enabling statute (FSPTCA) doesn't specifically require it. The counter-argument is it
does require that any regulation must be "appropriate," and how can the FDA determine if it's appropriate without a cost/benefit analysis?
That said, I wouldn't try to predict how this is going to turn out based on what transpired yesterday. You can't tell how a judge is leaning based on questions asked at oral argument. I've argued cases in all levels of state and federal courts with the sole exception of the SCOTUS, and I've learned not to read anything into the questions asked or how they're asked. Many judges will question what later turns out to be the winning side much more aggressively.
Also please bear in mine that this case will be reviewed all over again ("
de novo") in the Circuit Court of Appeals. New briefs will be written and new oral arguments will be presented. On appeal in cases of this kind the district court's ruling is entitled to zero deference.