You folks might recall I was just on the phone with Congress the other day because their official text messages are being blocked by the carriers.
That’s a bad look.
Perhaps worse is that some knuckleheads try to sue members of Congress for official messages from the government. That’s how out of control TCPA litigation has become folks. How absurd.
I covered the filing of the complaint against Congresswoman Speier when it was filed because I thought it was absurd then too.
In any event, the Court made mercifully short work of this filing determining that Speier cannot be sued for sending a governmental message–because of course she can’t be.
The Court also found that governmental messages are categorically exempt from the TCPA by something called sovereign immunity. That really shouldn’t be a surprise since the Supreme Court literally said that in the old Campbell Ewald case.
So this was a remarkably dumb suit to begin with. Maybe the government will seek sanctions under Rule 11. We’ll see.
The case is CLYDE CHENG, v. CONGRESSWOMAN JACKIE SPEIER, Slip Copy2022 WL 2402651 (N.D. Cal. July 4, 2022). (Oh, and notice how the Court held it for issuance on the 4th of July–how patriotic!)
So now we all know–again–that the TCPA does not apply to official government messages. But will the carriers stop blocking their messages? (Again, hopefully all of our messages too though.)
I don’t see why government officials should be exempt. Sovereign immunity? We have a Republic, not a monarchy. Although I am reminded about the madness of KIng George from the White House press briefings.