Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants likely caught nobody by surprise. While there were some who thought the Court would toss the entire Telephone Consumer Protection Act, most prognosticators predicted that the Court would do exactly what it did — excise the federal debt collection exemption from the law — and let the rest of it stand. Nonetheless, there were some very interesting opinions shared in the hours after the ruling was released. Here is a sampling of comments from across the country:
“Today, the Court found that the last Administration’s attempt to create a special exemption for favored debt collectors was not only bad policy but unconstitutional. I am glad to hear that Americans, who are sick and tired of unwanted robocalls, will now get the relief from federal-debt-collector robocalls they have long deserved.”
–Ajit Pai, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
“Over 3.7 million complaints were filed nationally last year against illegal robocallers. Overturning the federal robocall ban would have opened the floodgates to even more harassing calls on Americans. I welcome the Supreme Court’s decision today to keep the federal ban on robocalls and allow States to continue to take legal action against illegal robocallers in order to safeguard the privacy of our citizens.”
–Steve Marshall, Attorney General, Alabama
“I’m elated, to put it mildly. No. 1, we preserved the only federal law that we have that provides meaningful restrictions on unwanted robocalls. No. 2, we get rid of the provision in that law has been the cause of an untold number of unwanted and privacy-invasive calls.”
–Margot Saunders, Senior Counsel, National Consumer Law Center
“The court rightly found that government debt collectors aren’t entitled to a special exception to the TCPA’s ban on robocalling. The court’s decision followed common sense principles: Americans don’t want to be harassed by robocalls, and Congress has the authority to stop abusive calls.”
–Sen. Ed Markey [D-Mass.]
“There remain open questions about what the TCPA means and how it applies to those who engage in First Amendment-protected policy and political discussions. We hope the Court grants review to resolve those issues in the pending Facebook case, addressing the proper interpretation of the TCPA’s auto dialer definition.”
–Alana Joyce, Executive Director, American Association of Political Consultants
