Supreme Court can't let vape companies profit off children

"Signature Series Mom's Pistachio," "Suicide Bunny Mother's Milk and Cookies," "Jimmy The Juice Man Strawberry Astronaut" and "Killer Kustard Blueberry." Do these sound like products for adults?. No. These are flavor names that are specifically designed to be of interest to teens, tweens and even grade school children.

Targeting children through these brand names and packaging caused concern at the Food and Drug Administration, so they denied authorization to the manufacturers responsible for them: Triton Distribution and Vapetasia LLC. The FDA’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) denial is based upon years of unimpeachable research proving that the availability of flavored tobacco products drives up youth usage.

Sadly, instead of remedying the problem with their product, the companies decided that litigation was preferable, appealing the FDA's determination on procedural grounds. After seven federal courts had already unanimously rejected challenges to the FDA’s decision not to approve certain flavored vapes and e-cigarettes, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court favored by entities seeking unorthodox decisions to curtail federal power, took up the case and sided with the vaping companies in the case of Wages and White Lion Investments v. U.S. FDA. In its ruling, the court claimed that the FDA acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" by, among other things, ignoring the companies' marketing plans, in ultimately denying applications from Triton and Vapetasia LLC. As a result of the FDA appealing this radical decision, the case was heard by the Supreme Court last month and the justices appeared unconvinced by the manufacturers’ arguments.

Legal and public health experts agree that there is an unavoidable contradiction in companies selling devices with fruity flavors and youth-oriented advertisements, while at the same time claiming to promote smoking cessation. If the Fifth Circuit Court ruling is upheld, we could see further promotion of electronic nicotine delivery devices that taste like cake and feature built-in video games, with no consequences for the companies, as they trap a new generation of nicotine addicts.

The Supreme Court should not allow itself to enable vape makers to profit from addicting our children to nicotine. I have never stood by and watched from the sidelines, and I have no intention of backing down now. The Supreme Court has an opportunity to protect our children's health and to deal a mortal blow to those who profit off of childhood addiction; to do anything less is unacceptable.

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, 8th Congressional District

Ending birthright citizenship is illogical

According to Neil Steinberg’s wise column last week, the current president’s legal team is trying to eliminate the 14th Amendment’s long-established birthright citizenship for any child born in the United States by claiming a loophole exists, because undocumented immigrants are not "subject to the jurisdiction of" American law, since they’re not here legally. So their children cannot be American citizens.

Well, my layman’s understanding of "jurisdiction" is "being subject to the law" of a place. Jurisdiction has its geographic and geopolitical exceptions: embassies are formally the territory of another country, so foreign diplomats are not under the jurisdiction of American law, from parking tickets on up.

So, to claim that undocumented immigrants’ children cannot be American citizens because their parents are not subject to the jurisdiction of American law would also necessarily mean that those parents cannot be charged with any crimes, since they are not subject to American legal jurisdiction in the first place. Right?

Yet at the same time, Felon 47 and his crew want to detain and deport immigrants on (pardon me) trumped-up claims that all such immigrants are criminals.

But they cannot be criminals if they are not subject to the American legal jurisdiction that would define their crimes, and thereby also make their children born here citizens. Pick one or the other: you cannot have it both ways.

Sorry for applying logic to contemporary American politics.

Bill Savage, Rogers Park

Republicans silent as Trump attacks Constitution

The first sentence of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship is a cruel and unconstitutional assault on our democracy. Yet Illinois Republican Reps. Mike Bost, Mary Miller and Darin LaHood have refused to take a stand against it. Their silence is not only a betrayal of the 14th Amendment and the fundamental rights it guarantees to every child born in this country, but a direct attack on our Constitution.

This is a moment that demands courage and clarity, not complacency and political games. This echoing silence from Bost, Miller and LaHood is instilling a new fear in people across this country who have spent their whole lives calling this country home.

We need answers. Will Bost, Miller and LaHood defend the Constitution, or will they stand by as newborns and immigrant families are targeted by this un-American policy? In this critical moment, our community deserves leaders who will stand up against injustice and fight for equality.

Ishanee DeVas, Budlong Woods

Silverstein doesn’t speak for me, other Jews

One of the hallmarks of authoritarian regimes is that they cannot be sustained without stifling protest (in the streets and in art galleries). Authoritarians insist that members of the public have to disbelieve their own eyes and ears in favor of the regime's narrative.

Ald. Debra Silverstein continues to try to make political hay as she supports the genocidal Israeli government, this time in the role of "art critic." Silverstein complains that a piece of art describes incontrovertible facts: that the U.S. is supporting Israel, that the U.S. is sending arms to Israel, that the U.S. is working together with Israel, and that these governments have killed children. All of these statements are true. Silverstein isn't objecting to antisemitism, she's objecting to anti-authoritarianism.

The artwork must remain in public view, and the City of Chicago should not step in to help cover up the ongoing crimes of the Israeli and U.S. governments.

S. Gronkiewicz-Doran, Jefferson Park

Pro-Palestinian voices are not being suppressed

Sun Times Editorial Board Member and columnist Rummana Hussain ("Biden’s failures in Gaza will ‘follow him around forever," Jan. 17) amplifies the lie that pro-Israel voices are “try[ing] to muzzle pro-Palestinian protesters.”

In fact, as pro-Palestinian groups proudly record on their social media, it is they who successfully engage in muzzling the free speech and assembly rights of others: interrupting and canceling congressional town hall meetings, League of Women Voters’ candidate forums, concerts featuring Jewish performers, and other public events that don’t pass their zealous anti-Zionist purity test.

Beyond suppressing the speech of others, their regular street protests, social media posts, and opinions getting (at least) equal time in newspapers, TV and radio, demonstrates that no such muzzling of pro-Palestinian voices is happening.

Ms. Hussain proves that point herself: she has devoted eight of her 17 Sun Times op-eds since Oct. 7, 2023, to both the very real plight of Gazans and limited attention to Hamas’ very real atrocities

No one is muzzling pro-Palestinian voices. Their voices shouldn’t be muzzled. They should be freely aired and subject to democracy’s free marketplace of ideas, a marketplace that for decades, as shown time and again in public opinion polls, continues to support Israel’s search for peace and security

Jay Tcath, executive vice president, Jewish United Fund

Democrats don’t need a Reagan-like candidate

In her latest column, S.E. Cupp does a workmanlike job of assessing the weaknesses in the Democratic Party's responses to the Felon-in-Chief's campaign. Her solution (fielding the party's own Ronald Reagan) ignores the reality of Reagan's presidency.

The antidemocratic through-line from Reagan to Donald Trump for the Republican Party (and our country) is indisputable. Reagan sold his brand by stating baldly that government was the problem, not a force for solutions. Reagan lied blatantly about trading arms for hostages. Reagan denounced Jimmy Carter's efforts to promote bilingual teaching. Climate change? Reagan is the president who said trees cause more pollution than automobiles, Oh, right, he also vetoed a strong reauthorization of the Clean Water Act in 1987, only to have it overturned by Congress (overwhelmingly). Reagan's attacks on organized labor began immediately upon his election and intensified throughout his presidency.

Yes, the Democratic Party needs a strong candidate, but the party needs a candidate who stands for actual democratic oversight of our lives, especially the economy. The root of the word economy is "household management." From Reagan through Trump, the Republican Party has actively promoted policies that enrich an oligarchy while beggaring the rest of the citizens. If Democrats are looking for a standard bearer, the party should look for another Franklin Roosevelt.

Mark Lipscomb, McKinley Park

AI failed in school shooting

On Wednesday, a school shooting occurred in Nashville that left a 16-year-old girl and the teenage shooter dead. Usually, those incidents are in the papers, but we’re getting more accustomed to them nowadays. The alleged shooter was able to get into the school with a gun. The school's artificial intelligence-powered weapon detection system failed to pick up the gun as it was supposed to. I think someone needs to check to make sure AI didn’t fail on purpose. AI could be out to kill us all and take over.

Tom DeDore, Garfield Ridge

Keep on trucking, safely

I drive on the Kennedy Expressway and I-90 toward Rockford numerous times a week and see tractor-trailer trucks driving in the two left lanes ignoring signs that say they should be in two right lanes. This while every traffic report about accidents blocking lanes involve semi trucks. Where is the state police enforcing traffic violations? Truck drivers years ago used to be the gentlemen of the highway. Not anymore.

William Greene, Big Oaks

Pardons contribute to America’s lawlessness

Jacob Sullum’s opinion article about the recent pardons by both outgoing and incoming presidents being an abuse of clemency is spot on, except that it didn’t mention how these mostly ridiculous and self-serving pardons show exactly what is wrong with our judicial system as a whole and why crime is rampant in our cities — there are no repercussions for one’s actions. These choices are not making America great again. They are making it a lawless free-for-all.

Laura Piersanti, Bolingbrook and South Loop

Climate change hurts economy

The recent election underscored the deep anxieties of American families regarding the rising cost of living. While many factors contribute to this crisis, climate change plays a significant and often overlooked role.

Extreme weather events, fueled by climate change, are wreaking havoc on our agricultural systems. Droughts, floods and storms damage crops, disrupt supply chains and reduce the availability of essential food. This directly translates to higher food prices, disproportionately impacting low-income families.

Ignoring the economic consequences of climate change is a grave mistake. Climate-driven disruptions exacerbate existing economic pressures, acting as a threat multiplier. It's crucial for policymakers to recognize this connection and take decisive action to address climate change as an integral part of the solution to the cost of living crisis.

Emilee Avink, Saint Joseph, Michigan