Making an important statement during the course of hearing at the district court on Wednesday, a U. S. district court judge said that a federal regulation making it mandatory for cigarette manufacturers to place large graphic health images and warnings on cigarette packs along with a number of related adverts may well result in violation of the free speech rights shared as evenly by tobacco companies as by anyone else in the nation.

In a lawsuit that is expected to wrap up ahead of the Supreme Court, five cigarette manufacturers are filing a legal petition against a recent regulation passed by the Food and Drug Administration. As per the regulation, it has been made mandatory for cigarette manufactures to label all tobacco products, including cigarette packs, with various images of consequences that smoking can have on an individual. The images will include pictures of diseased lungs, rotting teeth and various other pictures meant for illustrating the harmful and life-threatening consequences of smoking.

As per reports, the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave directions to the FDA for adopting the regulations, which need color label warnings with big enough picture to cover at least the top 50% of the front and the back panels of a cigarette pack, and at least the top 20% of printed adverts.

In this regard, Richard Leon, the U. S. District Judge who issued a provisional injunction blocking the regulation earlier in November, claimed that he would be issuing his final verdict for the case well ahead of April 10.

The law provided the FDA broad an authority on products related to cigarette and tobacco industry for the first time ever since its formation. However, it has been informed by lawyers that a verdict ahead of April 10 will be providing appellate judges a margin for ruling on the case as well as the injunction all at once.