WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has upheld a 1991 law that bars robocalls to cellphones.

The case was argued by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It only arose after Congress in 2015 created an exception in the law that allows the automated calls for collection of government debt.

Political consultants and pollsters were among those asking the Supreme Court to strike down the 1991 law that bars them from making robocalls to cellphones as a violation of their free speech rights under the Constitution.

The issue was whether, by allowing one kind of speech but not others, the exception made the whole law unconstitutional.