Director of Tobacco Center Berman Provides Media with Expertise on New Tobacco Law

December 8, 2006

Ohio's new smoking ban, which prohibits smoking in public places, passed during the November 2006 elections. It took effect December 7, 2006. Lawsuits challenging the ban are being filed and the law is being debated throughout Ohio.

Executive Director of the Tobacco Public Policy Center at Capital University Law School, Micah Berman, is an expert on tobacco laws.

December 8, 2006, Berman was quoted in the Cincinnati Enquirer and featured on a WMUB radio program discussing the issue of a new state-wide law restricting tobacco use.

In the Cincinnati Enquirer article "Smoking ban takes a breather" by James McNair, Berman was quoted in regards to constitutional challenges against the law:

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Louis Sirkin in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, says the smoking ban infringes on the fundamental right to earn a living and constitutes an unlawful taking without just compensation. Micah Berman, executive director of the Tobacco Public Policy Center at Capital University in Columbus - which provides legal support for tobacco-control efforts - said such lawsuits generally flop.

"Constitutional challenges have uniformly failed," Berman said. "All the issues in this suit have been raised before elsewhere, and I expect will fail here as well."

Also on December 8, 2006, Berman participated in a radio forum on WMUB discussing the issue of the smoking ban. A podcast of the event, entitled "Is Ohio Really Smoke-Free?" is available on WMUB's website.

In addition, Berman was quoted extensively in the December 10, 2006 Toledo Blade. In the article, "Legal attacks on smoking bans usually fail" by Jenni Laidman, Berman discusses the lawsuits, their origins and the likelihood of the new law being enforced.

As executive director of the Tobacco Public Policy Center, Berman is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the center. He previously worked as a trial attorney with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and as an associate with the law firm of Stinson Morrison Hecker, LLP.