Lower courts were correct in dismissing a class-action lawsuit revolving around tobacco advertising to children, the California Supreme Court has ruled.

The Associated Press reported Aug. 2 that the court ruled that the cigarette ads in question complied with federal cigarette labeling laws and were legal under the First Amendment, and that the plaintiffs in the case did not produce evidence that the ads were misleading or targeted children. The state Supreme Court said that federal laws regarding advertising trumped state laws on advertising.

"Cigarette advertising concerns lawful activity because it is addressed to adults who can legally purchase and use cigarettes, and not exclusively to minors who cannot," wrote Supreme Court Justice Joyce Kennard in the unanimous decision.

But California Attorney General Jerry Brown said, "This decision, while upholding some restrictions, nevertheless reaffirms the full authority of the California attorney general to enforce the multibillion dollar tobacco settlement, especially when minors are involved."

The plaintiffs in the case, originally filed in 1998, sought to compel tobacco firms to forfeit up to $2 billion earned through sales of cigarettes to minors in California between 1994 and 1999.