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Friday, May 09, 2008
Ind. Decisions - More on: State loses auto-dialer case in trial court
Updating this ILB entry from Feb. 15, 2008, the ILB has received a press release from attiorney James Bopp, Jr. that begins:
Today, the Indiana Democratic Party and the Indiana Republican Party asked the Indiana Supreme Court to allow them to file a joint friend-of-the-court brief in a case involving computer-generated political calls. The case, State of Indiana v. American Family Voices, Inc., was initiated by the State of Indiana against American Family Voices and others for using automatic dialing machines to make political calls during the 2006 election cycle. The case was dismissed by the trial court, based on the Defendant’s argument that the statute only prohibited commercial calls. The Attorney General appealed and the case was taken up directly by the Indiana Supreme Court, bypassing the Court of Appeals. Appellees are represented by DeLaney & DeLaney, LLC.Oral argument in the case is scheduled for June 16, 2008.
Both political parties have a direct interest in the case as they, along with their candidates, would use robocall technology to make political calls, if it were legal. Both political parties believe that the First Amendment protects their right to make computer-generated political calls. The political parties will argue in their friend-of-the-court brief that the Indiana robocall law should be construed to only reach commercial calls, in order to avoid a finding that the statute is unconstitutional because it also prohibits political calls.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 9, 2008 02:34 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions