The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 1991 law that bars robocalls to cellphones.
The case, argued by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic, only arose after Congress in 2015 created an exception in the law that allowed the automated calls for collection of government debt.
Political consultants and pollsters were among those who asked the Supreme Court to strike down the entire 1991 law that bars them from making robocalls to cellphones as a violation of their free speech rights under the Constitution. The issue was whether, by allowing one kind of speech but not others, the exception made the whole law unconstitutional.
Six justices agreed that by allowing debt collection calls to cellphones Congress "impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over political and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote. And seven justices agreed that the 2015 exception should be stricken from the law.
"Americans passionately disagree about many things. But they are largely united in their disdain for robocalls," Kavanaugh noted at the outset of his opinion.
During arguments in the case in May, Justice Stephen Breyer got cut off when someone tried calling him. Breyer said after he rejoined the court's arguments: "The telephone started to ring, and it cut me off the call and I don't think it was a robocall."
The leaders of Russia and China have put aside their raw-worded disputes with U.S. President Joe Biden long enough to pledge international cooperation on cutting climate-wrecking coal and petroleum emissions.
President Joe Biden is preparing to formally acknowledge that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey more than a century ago was genocide.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid fell last week to 547,000, a new low since the pandemic struck and a further encouraging sign that layoffs are slowing on the strength of an improving job market.
Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) joined Cheddar to express hope that some of her GOP counterparts join in a bipartisan effort to reform policing in the United States.
President Joe Biden has announced new employer tax credits and other steps to encourage people reluctant to be inoculated to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
President Joe Biden will pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030 as he convenes a virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders.
A judge overseeing a sweeping lawsuit about homelessness in Los Angeles has ordered the city and county to find shelter for all unhoused residents of Skid Row within 180 days.
After three weeks of testimony, the trial of the former police officer charged with killing George Floyd ended swiftly.
Body camera video shows a Columbus officer fatally shoot a Black teenage girl who swung at two other people with a knife.
As vaccine efforts roll out across the U.S., in-person events are slowly resuming, but many cannabis companies have chosen to host their events online or throw hybrid in-person and virtual events.
