President Donald Trump's recent threat to slap Colombia with a 25% tariff could serve as a harbinger for how he could interact with Canada, Mexico and other trading partners when it comes to tariffs, according to industry observers interviewed by International Trade Today.
The National Sheriffs’ Association and the California State Sheriffs’ Association asked that the FCC stay an October order giving the FirstNet Authority -- and, indirectly, AT&T -- use of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2410220027) pending judicial review of the order. The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure challenged the order, while the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance questioned aspects of it, in petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2412040043). The sheriffs groups said plaintiffs will likely prevail in court. “The Order is arbitrary and capricious because its last minute decision to block public safety entities from modifying existing licenses and applying for new licenses was not the subject of adequate notice,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-100. In addition, the order is “self-contradictory and not based on sound reasoning,” the groups said. It "claims that incumbent licensees will not be adversely affected, when they will immediately be stripped of their geographic license rights and ability to apply for new or modified licenses as needed.” The order also unfairly helps AT&T “better position itself vis-à-vis its commercial wireless service competitors” by giving it “access to free mid-band spectrum in order to ‘maintain parity’ with its competitors, which is not an appropriate use of the 4.9 GHz public safety spectrum.”
Consumer and public interest groups urged the FCC on Wednesday to avoid acting on a petition by Responsible Enterprises Against Consumer Harassment (REACH), which seeks an emergency stay of the FCC's one-to-one robotext consent rules (see 2501210058). Commissioners approved the rules 13 months ago (see 2312130019). Absent further FCC action, the order will take effect Monday. The rules are “widely supported by consumers and small businesses, a bipartisan coalition of 28 state Attorneys General, as well as the telephone industry,” said a filing this week in docket 02-278. The delay that REACH proposes “requires full compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act, and thus even [if] it was warranted (which it is not), cannot be adopted in time to delay the effective date of the one-to-one regulation,” the groups said. The National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Consumers League, Public Knowledge and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group signed the filing.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases are marked with an * .
The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 17 unanimously upheld a law requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban on the popular social media application in the U.S.
Three Senate Democrats have introduced a bill to remove the president's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a companion bill to one introduced in the House, which also only had Democratic sponsors (see 2501160069).
A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok, citing Congress’ “well-supported national security concerns.”
The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 17 unanimously upheld a law requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban on the popular social media application in the U.S.
On his first day in office, the president directed the heads of agencies that deal with trade, tariff collection and trade remedies to:
The early weeks of January have brought a blizzard of state bills focused on protecting kids online, including requiring age verification on porn and social media websites. Some industry groups have long raised privacy concerns with such mandates, arguing they could require that users submit sensitive information confirming their age or parental status to consent to a child’s access.