On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court vacated two lower courts’ decisions and remanded for further proceedings in challenges to Texas House Bill 20’s and Florida Senate Bill 7072’s individualized-explanation requirements. The Court held that the lower courts erred in their application of the Zauderer test. This holding was a disappointment for WLF, which argued that Zauderer should not apply for four reasons: (1) Zauderer cannot be applied to statutes that compel speech outside the context of advertising; (2) Zauderer cannot be applied to statutes that compel speech on controversial topics; (3) Zauderer does not govern when a speech requirement seeks to promote consumer welfare in general instead of seeking to correct a commercial entity’s false or deceptive statements; and (4) Zauderer cannot be applied to necessarily subjective regulations. WLF’s brief also noted the evidence showing that Florida and Texas are attempting to impose content-based restrictions on political speech.
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