Consumers' Research, et al., Petitioners v. Federal Communications Commission, et al.

  1. September 10, 2024

    FCC Chair Vows High Court Fight Over Universal Service

    Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel told educators the agency will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a recent Fifth Circuit decision against the Universal Service Fund, the federal program that subsidizes telecom service to low-income and hard-to-reach areas.

  2. July 30, 2024

    5th Circ. Ruling Places FCC Rural Telehealth Funding In Peril

    From Alaska to Arkansas, thousands of rural healthcare clinics rely on internet subsidies from the Federal Communications Commission to provide telehealth services to far-flung or low-income patients. A Fifth Circuit ruling threatens to disrupt services for some living outside urban centers or in healthcare "deserts."

  3. July 25, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Justices Urged To Revisit FCC Fund After 5th Circ. Ruling

    Free-market groups asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to take another look at their challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's low-income and rural subsidy programs after the Fifth Circuit ruled the system was unconstitutional.

  4. June 10, 2024

    High Court Won't Review FCC's Universal Service Fund

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review whether the country's fee-based telecom subsidy system unlawfully delegates taxing powers from Congress to the Federal Communications Commission and a privately run administrator.

  5. May 21, 2024

    Circuit Split Could Still Derail FCC Subsidies, High Court Told

    Free market groups urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to review their challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's subsidy programs, saying the Fifth Circuit could create a circuit split "at any time" by rejecting the fee-based system.

  6. May 06, 2024

    FCC Calls High Court Telecom Subsidy Challenge Premature

    The Federal Communications Commission has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to forgo review in two constitutional challenges to the agency's Universal Services Fund brought by free-enterprise groups, arguing that the appeals were filed too early and are based on a speculative circuit split that hasn't formed yet.

  7. February 09, 2024

    21 GOP States Back High Court Petition On Ending FCC Subsidy

    Officials from 21 Republican-led states are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to torpedo the Federal Communications Commission's system for subsidizing rural telecom and phone services, calling on the justices to grant a request from a free market group to take up its challenge to the FCC's fee structure.

  8. January 12, 2024

    FCC Telecom Subsidy Nearing High Court Showdown

    The federal subsidy system that helps pay for rural telecom services and low-income phone discounts could soon face a reckoning before the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to a quartet of near-identical legal challenges to the fees imposed on service providers to raise the funds.

  9. December 14, 2023

    ​​​​​​​11th Circ. Upholds FCC's Universal Service Fund

    The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday upheld the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, in another blow to efforts by free-enterprise groups to have it declared an unlawful delegation of legislative authority.