SUPREME COURT ASSINGMENT

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NOTE:Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U.S. 321, 337.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Syllabus

Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid et al.

certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit

No. 19-511.Argued December 8, 2020Decided April 1, 2021

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) proscribes abusive telemarketing practices by, among other things, restricting certain communications made with an "automatic telephone dialing system." The TCPA defines such "autodialers" as equipment with the capacity both "to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator," and to dial those numbers. 47 U.S.C. 227(a)(1). Petitioner Facebook, Inc., maintains a social media platform that, as a security feature, allows users to elect to receive text messages when someone attempts to log in to the user's account from a new device or browser. Facebook sent such texts to Noah Duguid, alerting him to login activity on a Facebook account linked to his telephone number, but Duguid never created that account (or any account on Facebook). Duguid tried without success to stop the unwanted messages, and eventually brought a putative class action against Facebook. He alleged that Facebook violated the TCPA by maintaining a database that stored phone numbers and programming its equipment to send automated text messages. Facebook countered that the TCPA does not apply because the technology it used to text Duguid did not use a "random or sequential number generator." The Ninth Circuit disagreed, holding that 227(a)(1) applies to a notification system like Facebook's that has the capacity to dial automatically stored numbers.

Held:To qualify as an "automatic telephone dialing system" under the TCPA, a device must have the capacity either to store a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator, or to produce a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator. Pp.4-12.

(a)This case turns on whether the clause "using a random or sequential number generator" in 227(a)(1)(A) modifies both of the two verbs that precede it ("store" and "produce"), as Facebook contends, or only the closest one ("produce"), as maintained by Duguid. The most natural reading of the text and other aspects of 227(a)(1)(A) confirm Facebook's view. First, in an ordinary case, the "series-qualifier canon" instructs that a modifier at the end of a series of nouns or verbs applies to the entire series. Here, that canon indicates that the modifying phrase "using a random or sequential number generator" qualifies both antecedent verbs, "store" and "produce." Second, the modifying phrase immediately follows a concise, integrated clause ("store or produce telephone numbers to be called"), which uses the word "or" to connect two verbs that share a common direct object ("telephone numbers to be called"). Given this structure, it would be odd to apply the modifier to just one part of the cohesive clause. Third, the comma in 227(a)(1)(A) separating the modifying phrase from the antecedents suggests that the qualifier applies to all of the antecedents, instead of just the nearest one. Pp. 4-6.

Duguid's insistence that a limiting clause should ordinarily be read as modifying only the phrase that it immediately follows (the so-called "rule of the last antecedent") does not help his cause for two reasons. First, the Court has declined to apply that rule in the specific context where, as here, the modifying clause appears after an integrated list. Jama v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 543 U.S. 335, 344, n. 4. Second, the last antecedent before the clause at issue in 227(a)(1)(A) is not "produce," as Duguid argues, but rather "telephone numbers to be called." Pp.6-7.

(b)The statutory context confirms that the TCPA's autodialer definition excludes equipment that does not use a random or sequential number generator. Congress found autodialer technology harmful because autodialers can dial emergency lines randomly or tie up all of the sequentially numbered phone lines at a single entity. Facebook's interpretation of 227(a)(1)(A) better matches the scope of the TCPA to these specific concerns. Duguid's interpretation, on the other hand, would encompass any equipment that stores and dials telephone numbers. Pp.7-8.

(c) Duguid's other counterarguments do not overcome the clear commands of the statute's text and broader context. First, he claims that his interpretation best accords with the "sense" of the text. It would make little sense however, to classify as autodialers all equipment with the capacity to store and dial telephone numbers, including virtually all modern cell phones. Second, Duguid invokes the "distributive canon," which provides that a series of antecedents and consequents should be distributed to one another based on how they most naturally relate in context. But that canon is less suited here because there is only one consequent to match to two antecedents, and in any event, the modifying phrase naturally relates to both antecedents. Third, Duguid broadly construes the TCPA's privacy-protection goals. But despite Congress' general concern about intrusive telemarketing practices, Congress ultimately chose a precise autodialer definition. Finally, Duguid argues that a random or sequential number generator is a "senescent technology," i.e., one likely to become outdated quickly. That may or may not be the case, but either way, this Court cannot rewrite the TCPA to update it for modern technology. Congress' chosen definition of an autodialer requires that the equipment in question must use a random or sequential number generator. That definition excludes equipment like Facebook's login notification system, which does not use such technology. Pp.8-11.

926 F.3d 1146, reversed and remanded.

Sotomayor, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas, Breyer, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, JJ., joined. Alito, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment.

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