John Morris will participate in a panel entitled “Sorrell: The Supreme Court Confronts Free Speech, Marketing & Privacy” at TechFreedom

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Sorrell v. IMS Health has been heralded as a major victory for commercial free speech rights and raised serious questions about how to reconcile privacy regulations with the First Amendment. The high Court struck down a Vermont law requiring that doctors opt in before drug companies could use data about their prescription patterns to market (generally name-brand) drugs to them. But what does the Court’s decision really mean for the regulation of advertising, marketing, and data flows across the economy? Has free speech doctrine fundamentally changed? Will existing privacy laws be subject to new legal challenges? How might the decision affect the ongoing debate about privacy regulation in Congress and at the FTC?

These are some of the questions that will be addressed by leading thinkers on First Amendment law and privacy at an event hosted by TechFreedom, a new digital policy think tank, and the law firm of Hunton & Williams LLP. The event will take place on Tuesday, July 19 from 12 to 3 p.m. at Hunton & Williams’s newly opened offices at 2200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC. Complimentary lunch will be served.