I was too disgusted to read the opinion, so I'm not sure of the judge's reasoning.
I still haven't read it either, but this is from today's Post.
<<More on the legal roots of the latest ruling against the FTC's list: "Nottingham, a U.S. district judge in Colorado, did not dispute the FTC's assertion that protecting individual privacy is an important government objective. But, he ruled, the FTC registry ran afoul of a 1993 Supreme Court ruling. In that case, the court ruled that the city of Cincinnati unfairly discriminated between commercial and other forms of speech when it tried to enact a city beautification ordinance that banned curbside news racks that contained advertising leaflets, while exempting a much larger number of equally unsightly racks that contained newspapers," The Washington Post said in an analysis piece on the ruling. "Although most telemarketing calls are commercial calls, Nottingham noted, the FTC registry, like the Cincinnati ordinance, was discriminatory because, in terms of invading privacy, there is no difference between a charitable or other noncommercial call and a profit-making one." >>
And here's something for your amusement:
Judge Who Nixed Call Registry Is on List
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 28, 2003
Filed at 10:52 a.m. ET
DENVER (AP) -- The office phone number of a federal judge who ruled last week that a national do-not-call registry is unconstitutional was among the thousands already on the list.
U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham's number was added in July to the registry, which was designed to block telemarketers' calls.
It wasn't clear whether Nottingham himself registered the number or knew it had been registered. A call to the office Saturday was not immediately returned.
Nottingham on Thursday stopped the Federal Trade Commission from implementing the registry, ruling it was an unconstitutional infringement on free speech.
The FTC Web site was set up to allow anyone to register their number, remove it or verify whether a number was registered. An automated response from the site verified that Nottingham's number was registered on July 28.
The Boston Globe reported the listing in its Saturday editions and said Nottingham did not return its messages seeking comment Friday. |
