Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Robocall Ban Case

Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants. The argument was livestreamed, with EPIC staff providing commentary on Twitter. The case asks whether an exemption to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a law that prohibits unwanted robocalls, is constitutional, and, if not, whether the exemption should be severed or the whole law struck down. EPIC defended the TCPA in an amicus brief. EPIC said that the robocall ban is "constitutionally permissible and serves important governmental interests." EPIC explained that cell phone adoption has made "the harm caused by unwanted automated calls" greater than when the robocall ban was enacted in 1991. EPIC said that "without the autodialer ban, the assault of unwanted calls could make cell phones unusable." EPIC also argued that "a minor amendment to an otherwise constitutional law, passed decades after the original enactment, should not take down an act of Congress." EPIC frequently files amicus briefs on the TCPA, including in the related case, Gallion v. Charter Communications.