Political Robocalls Ban Upheld in Montana

A federal district court judge has ruled that Montana’s ban on political robocalls is constitutional, although the lack of enforcement since the ban was approved in 1991 has meant Montanans still receive many of the calls each election cycle.

The ruling, issued Friday by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Lovell in Helena, puts an end to a challenge filed against Montana’s law a year ago by Victory Processing LLC, a Michigan company that does political consulting and works on campaigns and ballot initiatives primarily through the use of automated telephone calls, or robocalls.

Victory Processing claimed the ban was depriving it of the right to free speech. However, Lovell found that the state law prohibiting robocalls is a “constitutionally permissible content-based regulation of speech.”