Wall St. West

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The Wall Street Journal comes out today in San Francisco.

The West Coast edition will report on business, technology, economics, politics, sports, education and culture. It will appear in the "A" section of Thursday's Journal, and, initially, is being officially sponsored by NASDAQ OMX.

The Wall Street Journal, according to 2007 figures, has a worldwide circulation of more than two million and an online readership of more than 930,000.  The New York-based Dow Jones publication produces European and Asian editions. In August 2007, Dow Jones merged with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., a move that shareholders approved in December 2007.

Montgomery Street, in San Francisco's financial district, is known as the "Wall St. of the West," so the nation's largest daily newspaper should feel at home.  "TUOL" congratulates the Journal as it "Embarcaderos" on its new adventure.

Philip Morris Gets Smoked by Ninth Circuit First Amendment Ruling

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The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit gave tobacco giant Philip Morris the word this week: cigarette advertising is protected by the 1st Amendment, selling cigarettes isn't--no butts about it.

In Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco (Case No. 08-17649), the appellate court upheld the constitutionality of a San Francisco ordinance that bans the sale of cigarettes in drug stores. The appeals court affirmed a ruling last December by U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken (Case No.4:08-cv-04482).

In its unpublished decision, the 9th Circuit noted that San Francisco Ordinance 194-08 limits where Philip Morris may sell its cigarettes, but doesn't prevent the company from advertising the product. "Even assuming it incidentally restricts plaintiff's advertising in a way that wouldn't be permissible as a direct regulation, that's not enough" [to constitute a violation of the First Amendment], according to the opinion of the court.

The appellate court choked on Philip Morris' argument, which the judges suggested would invite a 1st Amendment claim anytime the government banned something.