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."
A coronavirus action plan from President-elect Joe Biden centers on a mass vaccination campaign and closer coordination among all levels of government.
President Donald Trump has been impeached by the U.S. House over the violent siege of the Capitol.
U.S. Shadow Representative of the District of Columbia Oye Owolewa spoke to Cheddar about his belief that the recent attack on the Capitol building underlined the need for DC's statehood.
Cheddar's Megan Pratz reflects on the chaotic day of the counting of the electoral votes when the U.S. Capitol building became overrun by rioters.
The U.S. government’s deficit in the first three months of the budget year was a record-breaking $572.9 billion.
Airbnb says it will be blocking and canceling reservations in the Washington, D.C. area during the week of the presidential inauguration.
Mayor Bill de Blasio says New York City will terminate business contracts with President Donald Trump after last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
A look at how President-elect Joe Biden's budgetary concerns will fit in with people's changing perceptions of the federal deficit and deficit spending.
Impeachment ahead, the House will first try Tuesday to push the vice president and Cabinet to act even more quickly to remove President Donald Trump from office.
Experts and insiders agree the coming year could have a lot in store for the maturing cannabis industry, from acceleration of M&A and funding in the capital markets to continuing momentum toward legalization on the state level.
