Gray Says 11th Circuit Should Consider Jarkesy in $518,000 Fine Appeal

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on agency enforcement actions to the FCC’s $518,000 forfeiture order against Gray Television, as well as SCOTUS’ ruling against Chevron deference, Gray said in a motion and supplemental reply brief Wednesday. The court previously ordered that the FCC and Gray file briefs weighing in on the application of the high court’s Loper Bright ruling against Chevron deference but didn’t do so for SEC v. Jarkesy, which is seen as potentially requiring jury trials for many agency enforcement actions. Jarkesy “raises the fundamental question of whether the FCC had the authority in the first place to conduct the proceeding that led to the forfeiture the FCC asks the Court to uphold,” Gray said in a motion. “Under these circumstances, Gray proposes as the most prudent course of action supplemental briefing on whether Jarkesy invalidates the FCC’s Forfeiture Order.” If the 11th Circuit were to find that the FCC’s claim against Gray is similar to the SEC forfeiture in Jarkesy, “then not only did Gray have the right to a jury trial, but also the Seventh Amendment prohibited Congress from assigning adjudication of the claim to the FCC,” Gray said. The court must also consider whether the FCC has statutory authority over Gray’s purchase of a network affiliation under Loper Bright, Gray Television said in a supplemental reply brief Wednesday. The FCC had argued that the court shouldn’t take up the agency’s authority because it was outside the scope of the supplemental briefs the court ordered (see 2408080052) and wasn’t previously raised in the proceeding by Gray. The Loper Bright opinion instructs courts to first determine the boundaries of an agency’s authority before ruling on whether an agency has engaged in “reasoned decision-making” within that authority, Gray said. The FCC also raised the issue of its statutory authority by discussing it in the forfeiture order it issued against Gray, Wednesday’s filing said. The Loper Bright decision “commands” that federal courts “must review all questions of law without deference to the agency whose action is under review,” Gray said.