Watson v. Philip Morris Argued in the Supreme Court

Watson v. Philip Morris was argued today in the U.S. Supreme Court.  That's the case in which the 8th Circuit said, believe it or not, that Philip Morris could remove a class action challenging the marketing of "light" tobacco products from state to federal court because the tobacco giant was "acting under" a "federal officer" within the meaning of the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. 1442(a)(1).  Why, you ask?  Because, according to the 8th Circuit, the company's production and promotion of light cigarettes was heavily regulated by the FTC. We blogged about the case before, including here, here and here.

Now, read the transcript from today's argument.