TCPA survives 1st Amendment challenge
The correct interpretation of the robocalling statute continues to be elusive.
With each new court rule or agency guideline, the clarity of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 seems to take one step forward and two steps back.
Most recently, on July 6, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruled that the exception to the TCPA’s ban on robocalls to cell phones allowing calls to collect government and government-backed debt is a content-based restriction on free speech in violation of the First Amendment.
While the case, Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, sought to overturn the TCPA in its entirety as a violation of the First Amendment’s free speech clause, the Court agreed with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that the government debt exception should be overturned. The effect of this ruling is that both political robocalls to cell phones as well as robocalls to collect government debts are illegal.
A victory for consumers, this ruling will make it more difficult for businesses, including credit unions, to challenge the constitutionality of TCPA in the future.
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