'Do-not-call' List Holds Up in Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court Monday let stand a lower-court ruling that telemarketers’ rights to free speech are not violated by the government’s nationwide do-not-call list.

Without comment, the justices rejected an appeal by commercial telemarketers against the lower-court ruling, which upheld as constitutional the popular program in which consumers can put their names on a list if they do not want to be called by telemarketers.

“We hold that the do-not-call registry is a valid commercial speech regulation because it directly advances the government’s important interests in safeguarding personal privacy and reducing the danger of telemarketing abuse without burdening an excessive amount of speech,” the appeals court said.

The Denver-based appeals court overturned a decision by a federal judge who ruled the list unfairly discriminated against commercial speech.

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