The government’s brief focuses on the definition of an ATDS under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
9/9/2020 11:00
Petitioners in Facebook v. Duguid turned in briefs in the case this week, including one from the U.S. government, and one from Facebook.
In July, the Supreme Court granted a Writ of Certiorari in Facebook v. Duguid, Sup. Ct. No. 19-511, ACA International previously reported. The case, which petitioner Facebook appealed from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in October 2019, presents two questions: (1) Whether the TCPA’s prohibition on calls made using an ATDS is an unconstitutional restriction of speech and, if so, whether the proper remedy is to broaden the prohibition to abridge more speech, and (2) whether the definition of an ATDS in the TCPA encompasses any device that can “store” and “automatically dial” telephone numbers, even if the device does not “us[e] a random or sequential number generator.”
The case is slated for review by the U.S. Supreme Court in its next term, which starts in October. This is a developing story. ACA will be filing a joint amici brief in the case this week and is reviewing the petitioners' briefs.