U.S. Supreme Court agreed Mon. to enter long-brewing dispute over...
U.S. Supreme Court agreed Mon. to enter long-brewing dispute over whether federal courts can review state PUC decisions that arise when they arbitrate interconnection disputes between competitors and ILECs. Although Telecom Act allows carriers to appeal PUC arbitration decisions…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
to U.S. Dist. Courts, PUCs have questioned whether that violates 11th Amendment of Constitution, which gives states immunity from being sued in federal courts. Issue has found its way to several U.S. Appeals Courts, with most ruling that immunity issue didn’t apply. However, 4th U.S. Appeals Court, Richmond, ruled last month that there was immunity problem, indicating conflict among appeals courts. Until that decision, Supreme Court had refused to hear cases involving Telecom Act immunity issue. NARUC official said Supreme Court’s change of heart may be result of that conflicting 4th Circuit decision. High court will hear case brought by Ill. Commerce Commission -- Mathias v. WorldCom. High court said it would consider all 3 issues that states had raised in their various appeals: (1) Whether PUC’s enforcement of previously approved interconnection agreement was “reviewable by federal court.” (2) Whether PUC lost its immunity if it accepted “Congress’s invitation to participate in implementing a federal regulatory scheme” that included potential federal court review of its actions. (3) Whether so-called “ex parte Young exception” applies in arbitration cases.