SCOTUS Upholds TCPA but Not Government Debt Exception

The Supreme Court Monday upheld the constitutionality of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in a much-watched case heard in April, Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants. Justices let stand a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which declared a 2015 government debt collection exemption unconstitutional and severed the provision from the remainder of the TCPA.

The opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh had the support of the court majority, with many justices agreeing only in part. “Americans passionately disagree about many things. But they are largely united in their disdain for robocalls,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Six Members of the Court today conclude that Congress has impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over political and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment.” Seven members agree the government debt exception “must be invalidated and severed from the remainder of the statute,” he said.