This week, Public Data, together with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, the Middle for Digital Democracy, and Free Press, filed an amicus temporary urging the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the First Circuit to reject assaults on the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Fee in current Incarcerated Individuals Communication Companies (or IPCS) litigation.
This temporary responds to arguments from a coalition of state attorneys normal that the FCC’s construction, as a bipartisan unbiased company with commissioners who can’t be eliminated for political causes, violates the president’s constitutional powers. The temporary demonstrates that this concept is basically flawed, misreads practically a century of established Supreme Courtroom precedent, and threatens the independence of regulatory companies that shield the general public curiosity.
The next will be attributed to John Bergmayer, Authorized Director at Public Data:
“Congress intentionally structured the FCC as a bipartisan, multi-member fee insulated from political interference. This independence ensures that the FCC can regulate essential communications infrastructure impartially, safeguarding the general public from undue political and private-sector affect. As detailed within the legislative historical past, lawmakers who first created the predecessor to the FCC rejected giving a single political appointee unchecked energy over the nation’s communications, in favor of an unbiased fee construction. Impartial companies just like the FCC have lengthy been acknowledged as constitutional by the Supreme Courtroom.
“Undermining the company’s unbiased construction would disrupt not solely communications coverage however might additionally destabilize a number of essential companies, together with these overseeing monetary markets, nuclear security, and labor relations. We urge the courts to reject this assault on unbiased companies.”
Chances are you’ll view the amicus temporary for extra data.
Members of the media might contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to affix the Public Data press record at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.
