FCC Urges D.C. Circuit Denial of Mandamus Petition From Canceled AM Licensee
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should deny the March 22 mandamus petition of Gerald Parks, the former licensee of a Kentucky AM radio station, because the court lacks jurisdiction under the All Writs Act to grant…
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him the relief he seeks, said the FCC’s opposition Monday (docket 23-1078). The FCC canceled Parks’ broadcast license in 2020 after he failed to file a timely renewal application, it said. He now seeks a writ of mandamus ordering the agency to reinstate his canceled license on grounds the commission didn’t formally notify him “when it dismissed a defective license renewal application Parks filed more than a decade ago,” it said. The court has “neither current nor prospective jurisdiction” over the cancellation of Parks' license, it said. The statutory deadline to challenge that action “has long since passed,” it said. The relief Parks seeks both in court and before the FCC “seeks to undo now-unreviewable agency action,” it said. “Mandamus is thus improper,” it said. Parks’ “statutory argument is mistaken” because he has “no clear legal right to the relief he seeks,” said the FCC. Contrary to his petition, no timely license renewal application is pending, nor does Parks presently have a license for the agency to continue while it reviews his case, it said. “Principles of equity weigh against judicial intervention,” said the FCC. Parks’ now-expired 2012 renewal application faced delays because he “repeatedly violated” FCC broadcasting rules and didn’t pay the required fees, it said. “Parks then failed to file a new renewal application, ignored repeated warnings that his license would expire, and slept on his rights for 18 months after his license was cancelled,” it said.