Carrier Groups Defend FCC's USF Authority

USTelecom, NTCA and the Competitive Carriers Association defended a directive in Section 254 of the Telecom Act that the FCC preserve and advance universal service, in a pleading Friday in response to a challenge by Consumers’ Research to the broader USF program (see 2110050056). “Under the Supreme Court’s approach for reviewing nondelegation challenges, Section 254 falls well within constitutional bounds,” the groups told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: “Section 254 prescribes far more detailed directions than other statutes that have repeatedly been upheld by the Supreme Court over the past century. Even under a more searching standard -- which could be adopted only by the Supreme Court -- Section 254 still would pass constitutional muster.”