This just in:
Appeals Court upholds smoking ban, DIA exemption
By Felisa Cardona
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 01/29/2008 11:55:10 AM MSTColorado’s smoking ban was upheld today by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
A three-judge panel decided that the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act did not violate the equal protection clause of the constitution by providing exemptions to airport smoking areas. …
“The district court concluded, and we agree, that the State of Colorado has offered a rational basis for its distinction between airport smoking concessions and the establishments owned, operated and or serviced by plaintiffs,” the opinion says. DIA smokers “…have no options as to where they can smoke because they have no real opportunity or ability to travel to a location outside the DIA area.”
That’s too bad. However, the fundamental issue is not whether the smoking ban is applied equally, but that the smoking ban violates people’s rights to control their own property and associate voluntarily. Subjecting everyone to injustice “equally” is hardly superior to subjecting only some people to injustice.