The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF)'s funding regime on the final day for releasing opinions of its 2024 term. In FCC v. Consumers' Research, the Court reversed the U.S....more
The Administrative Order Review Act (better known as the "Hobbs Act") grants "exclusive jurisdiction" to the federal courts of appeals to "determine the validity" of most FCC orders and rules and certain other agency orders....more
6/30/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Chevron Deference ,
Class Action ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
FCC ,
Hobbs Act ,
Judicial Review ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates Inc v McKesson Corporation ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications
Asserting Executive Authority Over Independent Agencies: Assessing the Impact on the FCC -
On February 18, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" (the "Accountability...more
3/11/2025
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Executive Orders ,
FCC ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Net Neutrality ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Section 230 ,
Telecommunications ,
Trump Administration
On January 2, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a decision ("Decision") invalidating the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Order ("Safeguarding...more
1/10/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Broadband ,
Chevron Deference ,
Communications Act of 1934 ,
FCC ,
Internet ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Net Neutrality ,
Reclassification Rules ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Telecommunications
Update as of January 2, 2025: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a decision on the consolidated petitions for review of the FCC's 2024 Open Internet Order. In its January 2 decision, which relies heavily on...more
1/3/2025
/ Appellate Courts ,
Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) ,
Disability Access Claims ,
Enforcement ,
FCC ,
General Duty Clause ,
Internet ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Net Neutrality ,
No-Blocking Rules ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Rate Regulations ,
Reclassification Rules ,
Statutory Authority ,
Tariffs ,
Telecommunications ,
Title II ,
Transparency
On May 7, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its latest network neutrality order, Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet (the "Order"), which was published in the Federal Register on May 22, 2024,...more
6/7/2024
/ Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Child Abuse ,
Communications Act of 1934 ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement ,
FCC ,
Internet ,
National Security ,
Net Neutrality ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Preemption ,
Privacy Laws ,
Public Safety ,
Telecommunications ,
Transparency ,
Website Accessibility
On Monday this week, Anna Gomez was formally sworn in as the FCC's fifth commissioner, bringing the Commission back to its full complement and giving Chairwoman Rosenworcel a third Democratic vote. The very next day,...more
The FCC Broadband Data Taskforce recently released recommendations on best practices to submit bulk challenges to the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (BSL Fabric). The BSL Fabric is a dataset of geographic coordinates...more
The Federal Communications Commission ("FCC" or "Commission") has released its long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") proposing to revise data breach reporting requirements for telecommunications carriers and...more
The FCC Broadband Data Task Force announced that the second Broadband Data Collection (BDC) filing window opened on January 3, 2023, and the required data submissions may be made at any time up until the deadline of March 1,...more
On June 28, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari filed by consortiums of various municipal governments and associations seeking to overturn the Ninth Circuit's decision in City of Portland v. FCC,...more
When a dialing platform or voice service provider is sued under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), it often can successfully move to dismiss because it did not "make" the calls at issue or is immune from liability...more
On Thursday, October 29, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Order on Remand (adopted at its October 27 meeting), responding to the D.C. Circuit's remand of certain aspects of the agency's earlier...more
On August 12, 2020, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit in City of Portland v. FCC rejected multiple challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Small Cell, Local Moratoria, and OTMR orders in all but one...more
— Lone issue on 5G "aesthetics" in Small Cell Order remanded to FCC — Dissent limited to disagreeing with FCC's above-cost prohibitions on municipal fees in Small Cell Order - On August 12, 2020, a panel of the 9th Circuit in...more
Update #3: On August 13, 2020, in an 82-page opinion, a panel of the 9th Circuit upheld 2-1 the challenged aspects of all three of the FCC's Small Cell, Local Moratoria and OTMR orders in all but one respect – the court...more
Some Notable Changes Made to the "One Touch Make-Ready" Rules and Declaratory Ruling Prohibiting State and Local Moratoria on Wireline and Wireless Deployment - Note: This advisory has been updated to reflect that the ILEC...more
Friday, the FCC published the Office of Management and Budget’s approval of the one-touch make-ready (OTMR) rules in the Federal Register and set May 20, 2019 as the effective date for these rules....more
As DWT previously reported, in August, the FCC released its Third Report and Order and Declaratory Ruling (“August Order”) in its wireline and wireless infrastructure dockets (WC Docket No. 17-84 and WT Docket No. 17-79)...more
Some Notable Changes Made to the “One Touch Make-Ready” Rules and Declaratory Ruling Prohibiting State and Local Moratoria on Wireline and Wireless Deployment -
Late Friday the FCC released the text of its Third Report and...more
New “One Touch Make-Ready” Regime Proposed with Shortened Timeframes and Revised Terms for Completing Pole Attachment -
Draft Declaratory Ruling Would Prohibit State and Local Moratoria on Wireline and Wireless Deployment...more
On December 14, 2017, the Commission voted 3-2 as expected along party lines to adopt the Internet Freedom Order that had been circulated as a draft on November 22, 2017. When effective, the new order will reverse the...more
The wheel that is U.S. policy on “net neutrality” has taken another turn with the release of the FCC’s draft Internet Freedom Order, which, when effective, will reverse the Commission’s 2015 Open Internet Order (the “Title II...more
The Commission has released the final text of the Wireline R&O and Wireline FNPRM as well as the final text of Replacement Utility Poles R&O.
The final text of the Replacement Utility Poles R&O, which was released the day...more
The wheel that is U.S. policy on “net neutrality” has taken another turn. On November 22, 2017, the FCC released a draft of the Internet Freedom Order, which, when effective, will reverse the Commission’s 2015 Open Internet...more