SCOTUS Upholds USF Contribution Scheme

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday in Consumers’ Research v. FCC that the USF's contribution scheme doesn’t violate the non-delegation doctrine. The decision overturned an en banc ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the majority opinion, while Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a dissent, which was joined by Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.

The Universal Service Administrative Co. is “broadly subordinate” to the FCC and therefore doesn’t violate the Constitution, Kagan wrote. “Under our non-delegation precedents, Congress sufficiently guided and constrained the discretion that it lodged with the FCC to implement the universal-service contribution scheme," said the majority opinion. “And the FCC, in its turn, has retained all decision-making authority within that sphere.”

Gorsuch wrote in the dissent that the court’s decision departs from “time-honored rules" against Congress abdicating its taxing powers. In upholding the FCC’s USF regime, SCOTUS “defies the Constitution’s command" that Congress can't transfer "'powers which are strictly and exclusively legislative'" to another branch of government.