The Supreme Court ruled that the funding mechanism behind a key broadband subsidy program for schools and underserved areas can continue operating. In a decision issued on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected claims that Congress and the FCC鈥檚 implementation of the fund is unconstitutional.
The program, known as the Universal Service Fund (USF), helps subsidize telecommunications services for low-income consumers, rural health care providers, and schools and libraries. It鈥檚 administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), a nonprofit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) named to run the program. But conservative advocacy group Consumers鈥 Research, which encourages consumers to 鈥渞eport woke鈥 on its website, sued to upend that structure, charging that the way Congress and the FCC had delegated power over the program鈥檚 funding was unconstitutional. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Consumers鈥 Research, and the Supreme Court took up the case when the FCC petitioned the court to review it.
Because of what it believes is an unconstitutional structure to fund the USF, Consumers鈥 Research argued in its brief to the court, 鈥淚n essence, a private company is taxing Americans in amounts that total billions of dollars every year, under penalty of law, without true governmental accountability.鈥 But USAC isn鈥檛 running wild with public funds, the US argued. US Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the justices the law 鈥渓eaves key policy choices to Congress and is definite and precise enough for courts to tell if FCC followed Congress鈥檚 limits when filling in details,鈥 according to SCOTUSblog.
The Supreme Court agreed with this argument. Justice Elena Kagan wrote that Congress 鈥渟ufficiently guided and constrained the discretion that it lodged with the FCC to implement the universal-service contribution scheme,鈥 adding that the FCC 鈥渞etained all decision-making authority within that sphere.鈥 Kagan concludes, 鈥淣othing in those arrangements, either separately or together, violates the Constitution.鈥
NCTA – The Rural Broadband Association, says the USF is critical to providing access to modern communications in rural areas and for low-income families. 鈥淲ithout USF support, it is difficult to make a business case to invest in many rural areas, to sustain networks once they are built, or to keep service rates affordable,鈥 it says on its website.