The group Patriotic Veterans Inc. asked the Supreme Court to determine whether Indiana’s ban on robocalls — those annoying prerecorded messages that interrupt your dinner or favorite TV show — violate the First Amendment right to free expression. ADVERTISING The
The group Patriotic Veterans Inc. asked the Supreme Court to determine whether Indiana’s ban on robocalls — those annoying prerecorded messages that interrupt your dinner or favorite TV show — violate the First Amendment right to free expression.
It’s the right place for the dispute to be. Lower courts ruled both ways on similar statutes, and the Supreme Court is the right forum for such disagreements.
And where the court might come down is anybody’s guess. A good case could be made either way, that robocalls are protected by the First Amendment or they are not. And it seems such a close call that it could be one of those infamous 5-4 decisions.
If the ban is “content neutral,” in other words if all calls are banned, then the ban amounts to “reasonable time, place and manner” restrictions on free speech courts have always recognized. If only some calls are banned, then the ban is likely a violation of free speech rights.
That’s where it gets tricky. Indiana’s ban is aimed especially at political speech, and it makes some exceptions, such as messages from school districts to students, parents or employees and messages to subscribers with whom the caller has a current business or personal relationship.
We can debate the First Amendment implications all day, but such bans rely mostly on two principles that aren’t even in the Constitution.
One, which was pushed fervently by then Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, is the right to privacy. The other is the right not to be annoyed.
It is tempting to wonder what all the hubbub is about. People have so many ways of intruding on our privacy these days, which now include the internet and social media, that it seems overly fussy to worry about recorded phone messages. Aren’t they the easiest intrusion of all to escape from? If it’s a recording, hang up. All done.
But understanding our free speech rights and limitations is vital to thriving in a constitutional republic, so every nuance counts. This would define one of those nuances.
— The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
