FCC, DOJ Attack Consumer Groups' Standing, Case Against 2017 Telco Deregulation Order
The FCC and DOJ disputed a court challenge to a 2017 wireline streamlining order intended to speed transition from copper networks to fiber and other systems, arguing it should be dismissed without merits consideration. Consumer group "petitioners fail to carry…
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their burden to demonstrate" legal standing, the government responded Friday to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Greenlining Institute v. FCC, No. 17-73283. "Claim of 'associational' standing -- supported by only a single, unsubstantiated sentence in their brief -- is insufficient. They also fail to identify any individual member who could show the required elements of standing." Even if standing is established, petitioner "claims uniformly fail," said the agencies, citing commission decisions as "procedurally proper" and "reasonable," including repeal of a de facto copper retirement rule. Intervenor USTelecom backed rollback of "regulations that both were unlawful and unjustifiably slowed the evolution" of communications networks. The commission "fully notified the public of its concerns," triggering "extensive comments, including from Petitioners" and "eliminated rules the agency found had become 'unnecessary impediments to modern transformations in network hardware and technology," argued (in Pacer) the group, also disputing petitioners' standing. Greenlining and other consumer groups argued the FCC arbitrarily and abruptly scrapped telco consumer safeguards (see 1809270036).