Do Not Call list stopped again

A federal judge in Denver has halted the [implementation

of the national do-not-call list]1 on free speech grounds. I particularly enjoyed this quote from the article:

“Our Constitution allows consumers to choose not to receive commercial telemarketing calls,” [FTC Chairman Timothy] Muris said in a statement.

That’s crazy talk. Which Constitution is he reading? The one that was written pre-1800 certainly didn’t get into “telemarketing calls”, and I don’t think it’s necessarily obvious that Congress can block phone calls. Ultimately, I do think that telemarketing calls should not be protected speech because they are intrusive, person-to-person communications. It’s the same kind of thing as having a “No Solicitation” sign. People have a right to make their statements and be heard, but they do not have a right to invade my private space when they do it.