The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday let stand a lower-court ruling that telemarketer’s rights to free speech are not violated by the national Do-Not-Call registry, upholding the popular list as constitutional.
In making their ruling, the judges rejected an appeal by commercial telemarketers including the American Teleservices Association, Mainstream Marketing Services, Inc. and TMG Marketing, Inc.
More than 64 million have signed up to be on the registry, which took effect Oct. 1, 2003.
Last fall, the legality of the list came into question when a district judge ruled that it was unconstitutional on free-speech grounds because it applied to calls from businesses but not charities. After months of legal wrangling, in February a federal appeals court ruled that the Do-Not-Call registry was constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court was then petitioned to review the constitutionality of the registry.
“I am pleased that the Supreme Court has let stand the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding the constitutionality of the national Do-Not-Call registry. The Tenth Circuit held that the national registry, which gives consumers the choice to control the volume of telemarketing calls coming into their homes, is fully consistent with the Constitution’s First Amendment,” FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said yesterday in a statement.
The FTC maintains and enforces the registry.
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