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Press Release
Supreme Court Denies Cert. in FreeEats.com v. North Dakota
October 10, 2006
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied certiorari in FreeEats.Com, Inc. v. North Dakota, No. 06-127. A brief description of the case can be found here. The Center for Competitive Politics had previously submitted an amicus curiae brief seeking review of the Supreme Court of North Dakota’s decision to uphold a ban on political calls made over automated dialing systems.
This denial of certiorari is a particularly unfortunate decision by the Supreme Court. In the press release announcing the filing of the amicus brief, CCP Executive Director Steve Hoersting noted, “[O]rganizations need the latest technology to reach voters, especially as the funding of other political messages, namely broadcast ads, has become highly regulated under McCain-Feingold.” Erik S. Jaffe, noted First Amendment expert, former Supreme Court clerk, and counsel to the amici also observed, “The consequences of allowing state interference with these political communications are that an efficient and inexpensive means of interstate political speech will be severely restricted and made more costly.”
This is the third political speech case in the last two weeks in which the Court has denied certiorari. Echoing CCP Executive Director Steve Hoersting's observations with regard to the previous denials, this most recent denial may be yet another “signal that the road back to free speech may be slower and steadier than some speech advocates had hoped.”
(Hat-tip to SCOTUSblog for providing the initial report)
