The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether states have the power to regulate Internet tobacco sales in order to prevent delivery of cigarettes to minors, the Associated Press reported June 25.

The high court will review a 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that federal interstate-commerce statutes preempted the state of Maine's attempt to require delivery companies to inspect every package containing tobacco slated for delivery in the state.

The Maine attorney general argued that the 2003 law falls under the state's public-health police powers, and told the Supreme Court that the appeals court ruling "leaves delivery sales of tobacco to children unregulated by any government, a result nowhere suggested by Congress or supported by common sense."

Delivery companies and the Bush administration opposed the law.