Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-631_2d93.pdf
Page Number: 24

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

21 

Opinion of KAVANAUGH, J. 

allowing all robocalls to cell phones.   

When,  as  here,  the  Court  confronts  an  equal-treatment
constitutional  violation,  the  Court  generally  applies  the 
same commonsense severability principles described above. 
If the statute contains a severability clause, the Court typ-
ically severs the discriminatory exception or classification,
and thereby extends the relevant statutory benefits or bur-
dens to those previously exempted, rather than nullifying
the benefits or burdens for all.  In light of the presumption
of severability, the Court generally does the same even in
the absence of a severability clause.  The Court’s precedents
reflect that preference for extension rather than nullifica-
tion.  See, e.g., Sessions v. Morales-Santana, 582 U. S. ___, 
___ (2017) (slip op., at 25); Califano v. Westcott, 443 U. S. 
76, 89–91 (1979); Califano v. Goldfarb, 430 U. S. 199, 202– 
204,  213–217  (1977)  (plurality  opinion);  Jimenez  v.  Wein-
berger, 417 U. S. 628, 637–638 (1974); Department of Agri-
culture v. Moreno, 413 U. S. 528, 529, 537–538 (1973); Fron-
tiero v. Richardson, 411 U. S. 677, 678–679, 690–691 (1973) 
(plurality opinion); Welsh v. United States, 398 U. S. 333, 
361–367 (1970) (Harlan, J., concurring in result).  

To be sure, some equal-treatment cases can raise complex 
questions about whether it is appropriate to extend benefits
or burdens, rather than nullifying the benefits or burdens. 
See,  e.g.,  Morales-Santana,  582  U. S.  ___.    For  example,
there can be due process, fair notice, or other independent 
constitutional barriers to extension of benefits or burdens. 
Cf. Miller v. Albright, 523 U. S. 420, 458–459 (1998) (Scalia, 
J., concurring in judgment); see generally Ginsburg, Some
Thoughts on Judicial Authority to Repair Unconstitutional 
Legislation, 28 Clev. St. L. Rev. 301 (1979).  There also can 
be knotty questions about what is the exception and what 
is the rule.  But here, we need not tackle all of the possible 
hypothetical applications of severability doctrine in equal-
treatment cases.  The government-debt exception is a rela-
tively  narrow  exception  to  the  broad  robocall  restriction,