The Supreme Court of the United States announced on Monday, April 13, that it would hear oral argument by telephone in a number of key cases remaining in the Court’s October 2019 Term. Among these cases is Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, which was originally scheduled to be heard on April 22. Barr centers on the constitutionality of the debt collection exemption to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, including whether the TCPA’s exemption for debt collection calls made by the federal government is a content-based restriction on speech that violates the First Amendment. In addition, the justices will hear argument on the appropriate remedy should the exemption be found unconstitutional, including whether the provision should be severed from the TCPA or whether the statute as a whole should be invalidated.

Arguments in these cases will be heard on May 4-6 and May 11-13; the Court will issue a case-specific calendar as the schedule is confirmed.