FTC, CFPB, DOJ File Brief in Suit Challenging FCRA Constitutionality

CFPB FTC FCRA Consumer Reporting Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security

On May 8, the FTC announced that it had joined the CFPB and the DOJ to file a brief supporting the constitutionality of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The brief was filed in a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in which a consumer alleged that a consumer reporting agency (CRA) violated FCRA by reporting on arrest records that were more than seven years’ old. Responding to these allegations, the CRA argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in Sorell v. IMS Health, Inc., 131 S. Ct. 2653 (2011), rendered FCRA’s seven-year limitation unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The federal entities’ brief counters that Sorell does not alter the test for commercial speech restrictions established in Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission of New York, 447 U.S. 557 (1980). It goes on to argue that, under this test, the government has a substantial interest in protecting individuals’ privacy and that FCRA protects this interest while accommodating businesses’ competing interest in obtaining complete information about potential borrowers.