On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed lower courts that had stupidly given the Phillip Morris tobacco company essentially the same powers as a federal officer to "remove" cases brought against them in state courts to federal courts, under the legal theory that because PM was somewhat regulated, it must be "acting under" a federal officer. We had joined a merits amicus brief to the court prepared by Public Citizen and AARP. Over at the Consumer Law and Policy blog, Scott Nelson explains the issues. One interesting point in Scott's blog: He points out that at the petition stage, U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement told the Court that the decision below was "dead wrong," but in his brief urged the Court to decline the case as a narrow "fact-bound" ruling. We recently noted that SG Clement had rejected an SEC request to file a brief on its behalf in support of defrauded small investors.