Three years ago, when the Court of Appeal struck down Section 1814 of the Insurance Code, which prohibits bail companies from paying inmates from referring potential customers, as an unconstitutional infringement of free speech, I was skeptical, saying (among other things):
Letting bail agents make "arrangements" with inmates to refer clients to 'em clearly, in my view, distorts the marketplace, and punishing such conduct will lead to a marketplace more closely (albeit admittedly still imperfectly) competes on relevant criteria -- price, quality, service, etc.
Today, the California Supreme Court said pretty much the exact same thing -- albeit in 34 pages and in much greater detail -- and unanimously reverses the decision below.
