The Biden administration is reversing course on its plan to ban menthol cigarettes, after the White House weighed the potential public-health benefits of banning minty smokes against the political risk of angering some Black voters in an election year. ....

Some Black community leaders had fought the measure, saying a ban would expand the illicit market for cigarettes and lead police to racially profile Black smokers. The American Civil Liberties Union and some members of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed similar concerns.

The proposed ban has generated much feedback from the civil rights and criminal justice movements, said Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time,” he said in a statement.