TCPA Blog’s Mike Daly was quoted in a Law360 article analyzing the potential impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to review the constitutionality of the TCPA’s restrictions on the use of automatic telephone equipment.
The Supreme Court has granted one of three petitions that implicate the constitutionality of one or more of those restrictions. (The other two petitions remain pending.) The core question in each case is whether the restrictions satisfy the “strict scrutiny” to which content-based regulations of speech must be subjected, and, if not, what the appropriate remedy would be. Mike observed that “the real fight will be about the remedy.” As he explained,
There is no denying that exempting attempts to collect federal debts—and only federal debts—is a content-based regulation. There is also no denying that doing so is not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest. It follows that the exemption fails strict scrutiny. The only question, then, is whether to sever the exemption or scuttle the statute.
The government’s merits brief will be due in late February, followed shortly thereafter by the respondents’ briefs and what is sure to be a tidal wave of amicus briefs raising a wide range of statutory and constitutional issues. Businesses, consumers, and their respective advocacy groups will now be watching these cases closely to see what comes next.
Read “How The High Court Could Reshape The TCPA’s Future.”
