In January the Eleventh Circuit vacated the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) one-to-one consent rule, finding that the agency exceeded its statutory authority under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The latest development is that on February 19, 2025, the National Consumers League and some small business owners filed a motion to intervene in the case so that they can ask for a full rehearing of that decision. The intervenors argue that because “the panel’s decision ignored both the purpose of the TCPA (to stop unwanted calls), and the FCC’s determination that the Rule was necessary to accomplish that purpose,” they should be allowed to intervene to “reduce the costly burden of unwanted telemarketing calls.” They argue that because of “the change in presidential administration, the FCC is no longer defending the Rule and is unlikely to seek rehearing of that decision” and thus “without government defense of the Rule, the interests of Proposed Intervenors in seeing the Rule in place will no longer be protected at all—much less adequately.”
