Tuesday, January 28, 2025

SCOTUS Decision Could Limit Authority of The FCC


The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to limit the FCC’s interpretative authority, continuing a trend set by last year’s ruling that ended “Chevron deference.” The case in question, McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corporation, centers on the Hobbs Act and its application to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regarding unsolicited fax advertisements.

FCC’s 2019 Amerifactors decision, which determined that online fax services receiving faxes as emails do not qualify as “telephone facsimile machines” under the TCPA. Based on this interpretation, a district court decertified the plaintiffs’ class, and the Ninth Circuit upheld the decision, citing the Hobbs Act’s provision granting exclusive jurisdiction over FCC orders to appellate courts.

During oral arguments, Justices Sotomayor and Jackson questioned whether the Hobbs Act’s exclusivity binds district courts. Justice Thomas expressed unease about district courts’ inability to challenge flawed agency rulings, while Justice Gorsuch highlighted due process concerns for parties not involved in the original agency proceedings.

A ruling that district courts are not bound by FCC interpretations could extend beyond the TCPA, affecting the enforceability of any FCC orders interpreting federal laws. This would give district courts greater latitude to review and potentially overturn agency interpretations, altering the balance of power between agencies and the judiciary

Such a decision would align with the Supreme Court’s June 2024 reversal of the Chevron doctrine, a 1984 precedent that allowed courts to defer to administrative agencies when interpreting ambiguous statutes, as long as the agency’s interpretation was reasonable and lawful. The Court’s ruling now requires courts to independently determine whether an agency has acted within its legal authority, eliminating automatic deference in cases involving statutory ambiguity

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