Austin v. State

In Austin v. State (1898), 101 Tenn. 563, 48 S.W. 305, the Supreme Court of Tennessee upheld a total ban on the sale of cigarettes based upon judicial notice that they are "wholly noxious and deleterious to health. Their use is always harmful, never beneficial They possess no virtue, but are inherently bad, and bad only. They find no true commendation for merit or usefulness in any sphere. On the contrary, they are widely condemned as pernicious altogether. Beyond question, their every tendency is toward impairment of physical health and mental vigor." The Supreme Court of the United States affirmed on the issue of interstate commerce, with the concurring opinion endorsing the judicial notice taken by the state supreme court regarding cigarettes "impairment of physical health." Austin v. State (1900), 179 U.S. 343, 21 S. Ct. 132, 45 L. Ed. 224. The Supreme Court of the United States has definitively ruled that: (1) smoking is not a fundamental right; (2) judicial notice is taken of the health-destructive effects of cigarettes and secondhand smoke; (3) both present harm and possible future harm from secondhand smoke is a real and substantial danger to non-smokers; (4) secondhand smoke cannot be imposed involuntarily upon people because it is detrimental to their health.