The U.S. Supreme Court, turning away an appeal by a telemarketing trade group, refused to question the national “do not call” registry that bars unsolicited sales calls to more than 63 million phone numbers.

The justices, issuing a one-line order in Washington as they convened their new term, let stand a federal appeals court’s conclusion the registry doesn’t violate the free-speech rights of companies seeking to market their products on the phone.

The do-not-call registry has slashed the number of telephone solicitations, which at one point reached 100 million calls a day, the Bush administration says. The registry, which both residential and business phone customers can join, applies only to commercial solicitors, not to charitable or political callers.

“The do-not-call registry regulations eliminate the primary, indeed overwhelming, source of unwanted telephone solicitations,” acting U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement argued in a brief that urged the court to reject the appeal.

The appeal came from the American Teleservices Association, the smaller of two trade groups that sued to block the registry. ATA’s board includes officials from Verizon Communications Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The appeal faulted the registry for barring “commercial calls despite a lack of persuasive evidence that they intrude on residential tranquility any differently from any other unsolicited calls.”

The other group that challenged the program, the Direct Marketing Association, opted not to file a Supreme Court appeal.

The legal fight at one point threatened to stop the registry. A federal trial judge in Colorado concluded the program violated the Constitution’s First Amendment because regulators lacked a legitimate basis for limiting commercial solicitations while allowing charitable and political ones.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling. The Denver based appeals court said “the First Amendment does not require that the government regulate all aspects of a problem before it can make progress on any front.”

The high court rejection is a victory for the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, which jointly set up the registry.

The FCC has authority over businesses such as phone companies, banks and insurance firms that aren’t covered by the FTC. The FTC opened registration for the list last year after the FCC adopted rules to fill gaps in the FTC’s jurisdiction.

Under the rules, telemarketers who call numbers on the list are subject to penalties of $11,000 for each offense.

The FTC said in June it had received more than 400,000 complaints from consumers who said they received calls after putting their phone numbers on the registry. At the same time, the agency said the program had been effective, pointing to a survey showing that 87% of people registered reported receiving fewer calls.

In July AT&T Corp. agreed to pay $490,000 to resolve FCC accusations that company workers placed 78 calls to 29 consumers who had asked the largest U.S. long-distance company to stop calling with sales pitches.

Congress has also authorized the FTC to set up a “do not spam” registry to crack down on unwanted email advertisements.

The FTC in June said it had concluded such a list wasn’t technically feasible.