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Page Number: 5

2 

BARR v. AMERICAN ASSN. OF POLITICAL  
CONSULTANTS, INC. 
Opinion of KAVANAUGH, J. 

to make political robocalls to cell phones.  Invoking the First
Amendment, they argue that the 2015 government-debt ex-
ception  unconstitutionally  favors  debt-collection  speech 
over political and other speech.  As relief from that uncon-
stitutional law, they urge us to invalidate the entire 1991 
robocall  restriction,  rather  than  simply  invalidating  the
2015 government-debt exception.

Six Members of the Court today conclude that Congress
has impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over polit-
ical and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment.  
See infra, at 6–9; post, at 1–2 (SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring 
in judgment); post, at 1, 3 (GORSUCH, J., concurring in judg-
ment in part and dissenting in part).  Applying traditional
severability  principles,  seven  Members  of  the  Court  con-
clude that the entire 1991 robocall restriction should not be 
invalidated, but rather that the 2015 government-debt ex-
ception must be invalidated and severed from the remain-
der  of  the  statute.  See  infra,  at  10–25;  post,  at  2 
(SOTOMAYOR,  J.,  concurring  in  judgment);  post,  at  11–12 
(BREYER, J., concurring in judgment with respect to sever-
ability and dissenting in part).  As a result, plaintiffs still 
may  not  make  political  robocalls  to  cell  phones,  but  their
speech is now treated equally with debt-collection speech. 
The judgment of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit is affirmed. 

I 
A 
In  1991,  Congress  passed  and  President  George  H.  W.
Bush signed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.  The 
Act  responded  to  a  torrent  of  vociferous  consumer  com-
plaints about intrusive robocalls.  A growing number of tel-
emarketers were using equipment that could automatically
dial a telephone number and deliver an artificial or prere-
corded voice message.  At the time, more than 300,000 so-
licitors  called  more  than  18  million  Americans  every  day.