Third Circuit Tackles Whether TCPA Applies To State Legislators’ Robocalls

The Third Circuit has held that the TCPA’s robocall restrictions do not apply to state legislators when they are making automated or prerecorded calls as part of the legitimate functions of their office.​

The Perrong v. Bradford decision

In October 2025, the Third Circuit decided Perrong v. Bradford, a case brought by a Pennsylvania resident who received multiple prerecorded, mass “constituent” calls from State Representative Matthew Bradford about public health resources, employment opportunities, and upcoming events. The district court had denied Bradford summary judgment, but the Third Circuit reversed, holding that the TCPA’s prohibition on calls by “any person” using an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded voice does not encompass state legislators acting in their official capacity.​

Key holding on “any person”

The panel treated the meaning of “any person” in 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A) as a question of first impression and applied the canon that general terms like “person” typically do not extend to the sovereign. It concluded that a state legislator, when exercising legitimate governmental functions for the public benefit, is part of the sovereign and therefore not a “person” subject to the robocall ban in that context.​

Scope: “legitimate government functions”

The exemption recognized by the court is not a blanket immunity for all conduct by state lawmakers; it is tied to “legitimate functions” of the office, such as informational outreach and constituent communications undertaken through official channels and funded as part of legislative operations. The opinion emphasized that the communications at issue were reviewed and administered through the Pennsylvania House’s official communications apparatus and framed as constituent outreach, rather than campaign activity or private purposes.​

Practical implications and limits

Within the Third Circuit (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands), state legislators are now largely outside the reach of the TCPA when they use robocalls for bona fide governmental constituent communications. However, the decision leaves open disputes over whether particular calls truly serve a legitimate governmental function, and it does not resolve potential liability for non‑sovereign actors (such as campaigns or private entities) that might use similar technology outside of that official context.​