Trans Union Corp. v. Federal Trade Commission
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
245 F.3d 809 (2001)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Trans Union Corporation (plaintiff) collected information about individuals in order to create and disburse individuals’ credit reports. Using this information, Trans Union also sold target-marketing lists to marketers. Marketers could tailor the lists they purchased from Trans Union in various ways. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (defendant) issued an order determining that Trans Union’s target marketing violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which sought to protect the privacy of consumer information handled by consumer-reporting agencies. Trans Union challenged the FCRA and the FTC’s interpretation of it, arguing that they violated the First Amendment by improperly restricting Trans Union’s commercial speech. Specifically, Trans Union argued that the FCRA was more burdensome than was necessary to achieve the government’s goal of protecting consumers’ credit information.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Tatel, J.)
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