How's that for liberal...

Yet another big case decided today:

"WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court threw out a $79.5 million punitive damages award to a smoker’s widow Tuesday, a boon to businesses seeking stricter limits on big-dollar jury verdicts.
The 5-4 ruling was a victory for Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA, which contested an Oregon Supreme Court decision upholding the verdict.
In the majority opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court said the verdict could not stand because the jury in the case was not instructed that it could punish Philip Morris only for the harm done to the plaintiff, not to other smokers whose cases were not before it."

Not sure if I'm for or against the decision. 79.5 million isn't chump change but I'm no big fan of Phillip Morris either. According to MSNBC.com the 79.5 mil was in punitive damages which are,"...intended to punish a defendant for its behavior and to deter repetition." But 79.5 million isn't exactly a punishment to the corporate giant, and it can't repeat the same mistake (at least it cigarettes) because of the overabundance of information on the health risks of smoking.

On thing I'd like to note though are the individual judges votes:

"Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter, joined with Breyer.


Dissenting were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens and Clarence Thomas."

So the 'liberal' and 'moderate' judges voted for corporations while the 'conservative' justices voted against. Just goes to show you that what happens behind those doors is more complex that simple partisan hacking. At least when they're not voting on the next President of the United States.