I previously blogged about the First Amendment challenge to the administrations proposed cigarette labels that are quite disgusting. Now, after the district court granted summary judgment for the tobacco companies, and the DC Circuit affirmed that rule, the Administration is backing off from enforcing these labels and not going for cert.

The government has dropped its push for cigarette labels to carry images of diseased lungs and other graphic health warnings, and will craft new anti-smoking ads that do not run afoul of free speech rights. In a letter to Republican House Speaker John Boehner last Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Food and Drug Administration would go back to the drawing board to develop the ads, as required by legislation passed by Congress in 2009.

Somewhere Mayor Leviathan is shaking his head.