The Supreme Court declined on Monday to review whether the FCC’s $8 billion Universal Service Fund (USF) unlawfully delegates taxing authority from Congress to the FCC and the USF’s administrator. The USF is the agency’s major broadband subsidy program.
The appeals came from Consumers’ Research, a conservative nonprofit that asked federal judges to find the USF unconstitutional, according to Broadband Breakfast. The fund subsidizes rural broadband infrastructure, as well as internet discounts for low-income households, schools, and healthcare centers.
The USF is funded by fees paid by voice providers. The Commission sets those each month with a contribution factor – the percent of interstate end-user revenues that telecom carriers will pay into the fund.
Consumers’ Research argued that the USF’s funding mechanism and the Universal Service Administrative Company, which manages the USF for the FCC, violated the Constitution.
Judges in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit appeals courts rejected those arguments. Those are the decisions the group unsuccessfully tried to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Fifth Circuit also sided with the FCC, but last summer, the court agreed to rehear the case with a full panel of judges. That occurred in September. The court has yet to issue a ruling, but Consumers’ Research argued to the high court that it was “poised” to side against the Commission and create conflicting precedent, notes Broadband Breakfast.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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