This might be a good time for the R-number graphic, Kal. Remember to look for R numbers in the far left column on the court's opinions page. No immediate R number means one or more additional opinions to come.
We have the first opinion. It is in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants.
It is by Justice Kavanaugh.
Voting lineup in Barr is a nightmare.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act generally prohibits robocalls to cellphones and home phones. But a 2015 amendment to the TCPA allows robocalls to collect debts owed to or guaranteed by the federal governmetn, including to collect student loan and mortgage debts.
Here's the gist of it, because (as a commenter notes) it's complicated: "Six Members of the Court today conclude that Congress has impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over political and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment."
Seven members of the Court agree "that the entire 1991 robocall restriction should not be invalidated, but rather that the 2015 government-debt exception must be invalidated and severed from the remainder of the statute."
And here's the real gist of it: "As a result, plaintiffs still may not make political robocalls to cellphones, but their speech is now treated equally with debt-collection speech."
Justice Kavanaugh's opinion is joined by the Chief and Alito in full and in part by Thomas.
Sotomayor concurs in the judgment -- which means she agrees with the result (no robocalls to cellphones) but not necessarily the reasoning that the others took to get there.
The last paragraph sums it up nicely again: Congress created a general restriction on robocalls to cellphones but carved out an exception. That exception is unconstitutional; the court fixed the problem by separating it from the rest of the statute, so now all robocalls are unconstitutional again.
Times like these I really miss not only the paper copies of the decision that we get in the press room, but also the summaries of the bench statements that some justices hand out, which are very helpful in quickly understanding what's going on.
Okay, it's almost 10:10, so time to move on to refreshing again.
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