DOJ Poised to Intervene in Comcast’s TCPA Constitutionality Challenge
DOJ “respectfully acknowledges” Comcast Cable’s challenge to the constitutionality of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in answering a complaint last month in U.S. District Court for Minnesota, said the agency in a filing Monday (docket 0:22-cv-02377). Comcast argued that the…
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TCPA’s “statutory damages” provisions “violate the safeguards guaranteed” by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and 14th amendments “because they constitute excessive fines and are grossly disproportionate to any actual harm that may be suffered” by TCPA plaintiffs (see 2210190047). Though the U.S. may intervene in any action challenging the constitutionality of any congressional statute, DOJ thinks intervention in the Minnesota case “would be premature at this time” because the case remains in its early stages and it may be resolved without the court having to decide Comcast’s constitutional arguments, it said. The solicitor general must approve U.S. intervention in constitutionality challenges and that approval “generally takes several weeks,” said DOJ. It asks the court to permit the U.S. to intervene within 60 days of any motion or other filing supporting Comcast’s constitutional challenge or seeking a court ruling striking down the challenged provisions, it said.