Seneca Nation - judge extends temporary reprieve from law to block mail delivery off cigarettes until July 30th..

July 12, 2010 - In a news brief of July 4th we wrote U. S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara will hear legal arguments Wednesday, July 7th between attorneys for the Seneca businesses and the U. S. Justice Department.

140 Seneca Nation cigarette sellers received a temporary reprieve Friday, July 2nd from a federal law that stops the U. S. Postal Service from making commercial deliveries of cigarettes - the PACT Act. (Seneca cigarette sellers get temporary reprieve from law to block mail delivery of cigarettes..)

Judge Arcara listened to a full day of legal debate Wednesday, July 7th between attorneys for Seneca Nation cigarette sellers and lawyers for the federal government. Late Wednesday afternoon, he reserved decision on legal questions involving the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act, commonly known as the PACT Act.

Temporary restraining orders already in effect prevent the government from enforcing the law against more than 140 businesses owned by members of the Seneca Nation. Those orders were set to expire July 16, but Arcara extended them until July 30.

Before that date, Arcara said, he hopes to rule on the Seneca businesses' request for a preliminary injunction, preventing the government from enforcing the law against the Senecas until questions about its constitutionality have been decided.

Reference: Hold extended on law banning cigarettes from mail by Dan Herbeck, News Staff Reporter, The Buffalo News, 7/8/2010.

Related news briefs:
Seneca cigarette sellers get temporary reprieve from law to block mail delivery of cigarettes..
Authority to regulate Internet cigarette sales made from an American Indian reservation in another state was upheld in a ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals.;
NY State - Seneca Indians - lobbying against the PACT act..;
Collect Tax on Phone and Online Tobacco Sales, More Money for State Health Care Programs..