Sparrowhawk
09-25-03, 08:26 PM
Congress finally seemed to have done something, right and speedily, then this yoyo, has more power then our representaives?
Sometimes, I guess our check and balance system needs to be double-checked...
<hr>
Do Not Call list gets blocked ...again
Congress votes to reinstate; but another judge blocks it
By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC
Sept. 25 — The furious last-minute jockeying to stop unsolicited telemarketing continued Thursday, as both the House and Senate quickly passed legislation designed to allow a national Do Not Call Registry to take effect Oct. 1. But for the second time in three days, a federal judge issued an order blocking implementation of the list. The latest court ruling sides with telemarketers’ claims of First Amendment protection.
NOW, THE OCT. 1 Do Not Call Registry launch date is now in serious jeopardy, according to a legal expert.
“This one Congress can’t fix with legislation. It will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court,” said Clayton Friedman, a lawyer who is advising telemarketing firms working at do-not-call list compliance. “And I can’t imagine how they can hear it before Oct. 1.”
Do-not-call supporters have this hope: An appeals could side with the Federal Trade Commission before next Wednesday, when the list is to be implemented. Either way, the case is certainly headed for the Supreme Court, Friedman said.
The legal and legislative gymnastics started Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Lee R. West in Oklahoma blocked the Oct. 1 rollout of the list, saying that the FTC had overstepped its authority by creating the registry.
That legal hurdle was scaled by Congressional action. The House jumped in Thursday, approving by 412-8 a measure designed to counter the Oklahoma judge’s ruling. Then the Senate voted 95 to zero to reinstate the list and send it on to President Bush, who indicated he would approve it.
But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham in Denver stepped into the fray, giving telemarketers a critical legal victory.
Nottingham agreed with the telemarketers’ claims that allowing charitable solicitations but banning commercial calls “borrows from the reasoning of the pigs in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’ ... ‘Some animals are more equal than others.’”
The judge granted a summary judgment to the telemarketing firms, and barred the FTC from launching the registry next week.
“The Federal Trade Commission has chosen to entangle itself too much in the consumers’ decision by manipulating consumer choice and favoring speech by charitable (organizations) over commercial speech,” the judge wrote.
Friedman described the ruling as an “equal protection call.”
“It takes the approach of something like this. ... Ask yourself, is a call from a telemarketer trying to sell books any more invasive than call from the American Cancer Society?” he said. “The government can’t regulate one and not regulate the other.”
The ruling cited a Supreme Court ruling which prevented Cincinnati from barring boxes of handbills on city sidewalks but allowing newspaper coin boxes.
Nottingham’s decision is sure to set off another round of complaints from consumers, who vocally objected to West’s ruling Tuesday and have expressed overwhelming support for the do-not-call list. More than 50 million phone numbers have been entered into the FTC’s list.
On Tuesday, West had ruled that the FTC didn’t have proper authority to regulate telemarketers, indicating only the FCC could do so. Thursday, West denied an FTC request to stay his order while the agency files an appeal.
Nottingham and West actually disagreed over the issue of the FTC’s authority — Nottingham dismissed that claim by the telemarketers.
Earlier Thursday, do-not-call supporters thought they had won a solid victory in the legal tussle, with Congress swiftly passing a law that essentially negated West’s court ruling.
“(West) in this case is dead wrong and I’m sure his decision will in turn be overturned,” said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “We should probably call the bill ‘This Time We Really Mean It Act’ to cure any myopia in the judicial branch. The bill leaves no doubt as to the intent of Congress.”
The bill says the FTC may operate the list, which was approved by Congress last year.
Consumer advocates hailed Congress’ quick action in light of West’s ruling yesterday.
“I’ve never seen government work so fast as they have in past 24 hours,” said Diana Mey, a private citizen who’s been one of the most vocal do-not-call supporters for the past three years. “The news yesterday was very upsetting ... I was just stunned like everybody else.”
But the additional legal challenges were expected, said attorney Alicia Batts, a former FTC staffer who also represents telemarketing companies.
“The do-not-call registry is still going to be challenged,” she said. “There are other lawsuits going on. And you can expect even more litigation as the impact sweeps through the telemarketing industry.”
While she’s advising clients to be ready to implement the do-not-call list next Wednesday, it’s possible additional litigation could again stop federal anti-telemarketing efforts, leading to a frustrating on-again, off-again situation for consumers.
“It will take a long time for things to become crystal clear,” Batts said.
The FTC hopes the list will block 80 percent of telemarketing calls. Exemptions include calls from charities, pollsters and political campaigns.
The FTC’s rules require telemarketers to check the list every three months to see who doesn’t want to be called. Those who call listed people could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation. Consumers would file complaints to an automated phone or online system.
Despite the legal wrangling, the FTC is moving ahead with the list and is encouraging consumers to continue signing up.
Telemarketers say the list would devastate their industry and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. The Direct Marketing Association, one of the groups that challenged the registry, said it hadn’t decided whether its members would stop calling people on the list starting next Wednesday.
Since the FTC opened the do-not-call list for registration in June, people have submitted 31.1 million phone numbers at the Web site www.donotcall.gov and 10.9 million by calling toll-free at 1-888-382-1222. An additional 8.6 million numbers were transferred from existing state lists.
There are about 166 million residential phone numbers in the United States and an additional 150 million cell phone numbers.
Sometimes, I guess our check and balance system needs to be double-checked...
<hr>
Do Not Call list gets blocked ...again
Congress votes to reinstate; but another judge blocks it
By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC
Sept. 25 — The furious last-minute jockeying to stop unsolicited telemarketing continued Thursday, as both the House and Senate quickly passed legislation designed to allow a national Do Not Call Registry to take effect Oct. 1. But for the second time in three days, a federal judge issued an order blocking implementation of the list. The latest court ruling sides with telemarketers’ claims of First Amendment protection.
NOW, THE OCT. 1 Do Not Call Registry launch date is now in serious jeopardy, according to a legal expert.
“This one Congress can’t fix with legislation. It will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court,” said Clayton Friedman, a lawyer who is advising telemarketing firms working at do-not-call list compliance. “And I can’t imagine how they can hear it before Oct. 1.”
Do-not-call supporters have this hope: An appeals could side with the Federal Trade Commission before next Wednesday, when the list is to be implemented. Either way, the case is certainly headed for the Supreme Court, Friedman said.
The legal and legislative gymnastics started Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Lee R. West in Oklahoma blocked the Oct. 1 rollout of the list, saying that the FTC had overstepped its authority by creating the registry.
That legal hurdle was scaled by Congressional action. The House jumped in Thursday, approving by 412-8 a measure designed to counter the Oklahoma judge’s ruling. Then the Senate voted 95 to zero to reinstate the list and send it on to President Bush, who indicated he would approve it.
But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham in Denver stepped into the fray, giving telemarketers a critical legal victory.
Nottingham agreed with the telemarketers’ claims that allowing charitable solicitations but banning commercial calls “borrows from the reasoning of the pigs in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’ ... ‘Some animals are more equal than others.’”
The judge granted a summary judgment to the telemarketing firms, and barred the FTC from launching the registry next week.
“The Federal Trade Commission has chosen to entangle itself too much in the consumers’ decision by manipulating consumer choice and favoring speech by charitable (organizations) over commercial speech,” the judge wrote.
Friedman described the ruling as an “equal protection call.”
“It takes the approach of something like this. ... Ask yourself, is a call from a telemarketer trying to sell books any more invasive than call from the American Cancer Society?” he said. “The government can’t regulate one and not regulate the other.”
The ruling cited a Supreme Court ruling which prevented Cincinnati from barring boxes of handbills on city sidewalks but allowing newspaper coin boxes.
Nottingham’s decision is sure to set off another round of complaints from consumers, who vocally objected to West’s ruling Tuesday and have expressed overwhelming support for the do-not-call list. More than 50 million phone numbers have been entered into the FTC’s list.
On Tuesday, West had ruled that the FTC didn’t have proper authority to regulate telemarketers, indicating only the FCC could do so. Thursday, West denied an FTC request to stay his order while the agency files an appeal.
Nottingham and West actually disagreed over the issue of the FTC’s authority — Nottingham dismissed that claim by the telemarketers.
Earlier Thursday, do-not-call supporters thought they had won a solid victory in the legal tussle, with Congress swiftly passing a law that essentially negated West’s court ruling.
“(West) in this case is dead wrong and I’m sure his decision will in turn be overturned,” said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “We should probably call the bill ‘This Time We Really Mean It Act’ to cure any myopia in the judicial branch. The bill leaves no doubt as to the intent of Congress.”
The bill says the FTC may operate the list, which was approved by Congress last year.
Consumer advocates hailed Congress’ quick action in light of West’s ruling yesterday.
“I’ve never seen government work so fast as they have in past 24 hours,” said Diana Mey, a private citizen who’s been one of the most vocal do-not-call supporters for the past three years. “The news yesterday was very upsetting ... I was just stunned like everybody else.”
But the additional legal challenges were expected, said attorney Alicia Batts, a former FTC staffer who also represents telemarketing companies.
“The do-not-call registry is still going to be challenged,” she said. “There are other lawsuits going on. And you can expect even more litigation as the impact sweeps through the telemarketing industry.”
While she’s advising clients to be ready to implement the do-not-call list next Wednesday, it’s possible additional litigation could again stop federal anti-telemarketing efforts, leading to a frustrating on-again, off-again situation for consumers.
“It will take a long time for things to become crystal clear,” Batts said.
The FTC hopes the list will block 80 percent of telemarketing calls. Exemptions include calls from charities, pollsters and political campaigns.
The FTC’s rules require telemarketers to check the list every three months to see who doesn’t want to be called. Those who call listed people could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation. Consumers would file complaints to an automated phone or online system.
Despite the legal wrangling, the FTC is moving ahead with the list and is encouraging consumers to continue signing up.
Telemarketers say the list would devastate their industry and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. The Direct Marketing Association, one of the groups that challenged the registry, said it hadn’t decided whether its members would stop calling people on the list starting next Wednesday.
Since the FTC opened the do-not-call list for registration in June, people have submitted 31.1 million phone numbers at the Web site www.donotcall.gov and 10.9 million by calling toll-free at 1-888-382-1222. An additional 8.6 million numbers were transferred from existing state lists.
There are about 166 million residential phone numbers in the United States and an additional 150 million cell phone numbers.