Court Hears Free-Speech Challenge to Robocall Ban

WASHINGTON—A federal prohibition on robocalls to mobile phones looked safe after Supreme Court arguments Wednesday, as justices pushed back on claims that the First Amendment entitled political organizations to use automated dialers and recorded voices to reach unwilling audiences.

“It’s an extremely popular law. Nobody wants to get robocalls on their cellphones,” said Chief Justice John Roberts, who pointedly opened the hearing, which itself occurred by teleconference due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a reminder for “everyone to turn their cellphones off.”

Rather than expand the right to pester Americans...