Supreme preemption

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken a great interest in suits that pit FDA's authority against state tort laws when a patient has allegedly been harmed by an FDA-approved product. The court ruled in favor of FDA authority preempting state torts in a device case in February, heard arguments last week in a case about whether a Michigan state jury should be allowed to decide if a company defrauded FDA, and has agreed to hear a third preemption case related to FDA-approved drug labels.

The focus of the justices' questions during oral arguments in Warner-Lambert v. Kent last week suggests they favor preemption, although they asked questions that suggest they have concerns about going too far in that direction...