Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-631_2d93.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

3 

Opinion of KAVANAUGH, J. 

TCPA, §2, ¶¶3, 6, 105 Stat. 2394, note following 47 U. S. C.
§227.  Consumers were “outraged” and considered robocalls
an invasion of privacy “regardless of the content or the ini-
tiator of the message.”  ¶¶6, 10.

A leading Senate sponsor of the TCPA captured the zeit-
geist in 1991, describing robocalls as “the scourge of modern 
civilization.  They wake us up in the morning; they inter-
rupt our dinner at night; they force the sick and elderly out
of  bed;  they  hound  us  until  we  want  to  rip  the  telephone
right out of the wall.”  137 Cong. Rec. 30821 (1991).

In enacting the TCPA, Congress found that banning ro-
bocalls  was  “the  only  effective  means  of  protecting  tele-
phone consumers from this nuisance and privacy invasion.” 
TCPA §2, ¶12.  To that end, the TCPA imposed various re-
strictions  on  the  use  of  automated  telephone  equipment. 
§3(a), 105 Stat. 2395.  As relevant here, one restriction pro-
hibited “any call (other than a call made for emergency pur-
poses or made with the prior express consent of the called
party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an 
artificial  or  prerecorded  voice”  to  “any  telephone  number 
assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, spe-
cialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier 
service, or any service for which the called party is charged 
for the call.”  Id., at 2395–2396 (emphasis added).  That pro-
vision is codified in §227(b)(1)(A)(iii) of Title 47 of the U. S. 
Code. 

In  plain  English,  the  TCPA  prohibited  almost  all  ro-

bocalls to cell phones.1 
—————— 

1 The robocall restriction, as implemented by the Federal Communica-
tions Commission, bars both automated voice calls and automated text 
messages.  See In re Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone 
Consumer Protection Act of 1991, 18 FCC Rcd. 14014, 14115 (2003).  The 
robocall restriction applies to “persons,” which does not include the Gov-
ernment itself.  See 47 U. S. C. §153(39).  Congress has also authorized 
the FCC to promulgate regulatory exceptions to the robocall restriction.
See §227(b)(2)(C).  The FCC has authorized various exceptions over the 
years, such as exceptions for package-delivery notifications and certain