The FCC was in the hot seat Tuesday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral argument in League of California Cities v. FCC (case 20-71765) on a challenge to a wireless siting declaratory ruling approved in June 2020 under former Chairman Ajit Pai (see 2006090060).
The FCC was in the hot seat Tuesday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral argument in League of California Cities v. FCC (case 20-71765) on a challenge to a wireless siting declaratory ruling approved in June 2020 under former Chairman Ajit Pai (see 2006090060).
T-Mobile on Friday removed a case from New York Supreme Court in Brooklyn, said its notice (docket 1:23-cv-05206) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. Plaintiff Benjamin Kyle sued T-Mobile and T-Mobile store employees Silvia Hernandez and Emma Nodine, alleging a T-Mobile data breach enabled Hernandez and Nodine to unlawfully access his cell phone’s SIM card with his financial information, social security number and over $30,000 in funds from his Coinbase cryptocurrency account.
The FCC “reasonably exercised” its statutory authority when it decided the pole attachment rate Duke Energy charged AT&T was unjust and unreasonable, said the commission’s responding brief Thursday (docket 22-2220) in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the Duke and AT&T consolidated petitions for review. The FCC also properly decided AT&T should pay Duke a pole attachment rate that’s lower than the rate in their joint use agreement but higher than the rate paid by other companies that attach their lines to Duke’s poles, it said.
The FCC appears unlikely to grant T-Mobile special temporary authority to launch service in the markets where it won licenses in last year’s 2.5 GHz auction, which ended almost a year ago. The agency declined to award the licenses, or grant a STA, after its auction authority expired earlier this year (see 2304260058).
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote Wednesday on three FCC nominees and commission inspector general candidate Fara Damelin, as expected (see 2306270067), the committee said Thursday. Incumbent Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and new pick Anna Gomez got copious questions from Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and other panel Republicans, but none of them indicated the same level of negativity that ex-nominee Gigi Sohn faced during her often-fractious year-plus confirmation process. Committee Democrats, meanwhile, probed Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr on controversial statements he made since becoming a commissioner during the Trump administration.
There’s “no realistic prospect” that four U.S. Supreme Court justices would grant Apple cert on the questions it raises in its motion for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the mandate in its decision to affirm the injunction barring Apple from enforcing its anti-steering rules against U.S. iOS app developers (see 2307050021), said Epic Games’ opposition Wednesday (docket 21-16506).
Oral argument on the three consolidated petitions to set aside the FCC’s June 2020 declaratory wireless infrastructure ruling (see 2305010050) is increased to 30 minutes per side, said a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order Monday (dockets 20-71765, 20-72734 and 20-72749). Oral argument is scheduled for 9 a.m. PDT July 11 in San Francisco. The main petitioners are the League of California Cities, the League of Oregon Cities and the individual California cities of Glendora, Rancho Palos Verdes and Torrance. They allege the June 2020 ruling unlawfully preempts local and state government authority over wireless telecommunications facilities and was promulgated without response to the arguments they raised in the record, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision last week in the student loan case, Biden v. Nebraska, didn’t touch on communications law, but it delves deeper into the "major questions doctrine" laid out a year ago in West Virginia v. EPA (see 2206300066). Legal experts told us the opinion, by Chief Justice John Roberts, appears to further expand when the doctrine may apply and moves the court further away from the Chevron doctrine. The case also has implications for the most controversial items addressed by the FCC, including net neutrality, experts said.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision last week in the student loan case, Biden v. Nebraska, didn’t touch on communications law, but it delves deeper into the "major questions doctrine" laid out a year ago in West Virginia v. EPA (see 2206300066). Legal experts told us the opinion, by Chief Justice John Roberts, appears to further expand when the doctrine may apply and moves the court further away from the Chevron doctrine. The case also has implications for the most controversial items addressed by the FCC, including net neutrality, experts said.