The U.S. District Court judge for Western New York expects to make a ruling this week on whether Seneca Nation of Indians retailers will have to comply with the PACT act. The Seneca retailers earlier this week appealed a late July ruling by Judge Richard Arcara that they must abide by the federal act that prohibits shipping cigarettes through the U.S. Postal Service.

According to a report by WBEN radio in Buffalo, members of the Seneca Free Trade Association and one independent Seneca tobacco retailer, Aaron Pierce, have asked the judge to grant them temporary exemption from PACT while they try to have it declared unconstitutional in a higher federal court.

In the appeal, the attorney representing Pierce argued that the Senecas' mail-order tobacco sales were doing no harm to the federal government, but that the federal government was doing “irreparable harm” to Pierce by enforcing PACT, according to WBEN.

Arcara heard the appeal from Seneca retailers on Tuesday. At the same time, the government was appealing the judge's earlier ruling that the Seneca retailers did not have to comply with local and state taxes.

TOB UPDATE: Judge denies appeals.

In a related story, tax agents seized cigarettes from a truck owned by Pierce's wholesale business as it was making deliveries between Seneca reservations in western New York, sparking outrage among the Senecas.

Click here to read the full story of the appeals on WBEN.

Click here to read more on the shipment seizure on the Jamestown [N.Y.] Post Journal website.