INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court's ruling limiting Indiana's ban on political robo-calls to in-state telephone calls only. 
 
In 2011, U.S. District Judge William Lawrence in Indianapolis ruled that federal law pre-empts Indiana's ban when it comes to interstate phone calls, but said Indiana could still bar in-state robo-calls. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled Thursday, though, that federal law did not pre-empt state law and ordered the case back to district court so a judge could rule on whether it violates First Amendment free-speech rights.  
 
Patriotic Veterans Inc. filed a lawsuit in 2010 challenging a state law that prohibits using automatically dialed phone calls to deliver a prerecorded message unless consumers have given consent.