Split DC Circuit to Proceed With Inmate Calling Case Review, Feb. 6 Oral Argument
An FCC inmate calling service case will proceed as scheduled with Feb. 6 oral argument, ruled a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in an order (in Pacer) Wednesday, with Judges Cornelia Pillard and Harry Edwards in…
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the majority. Judge Laurence Silberman dissented, labeling "silly" a counsel's argument that a change in the FCC's position was only "hypothetical," given the looming agency takeover by Republican commissioners who dissented on ICS decisions. The FCC and DOJ had said the case shouldn't be held in abeyance, while most ICS providers and state and local officials said it should be to give Republican commissioners time to consider their course (see 1701170046). The Wright Petitioners also asked the appellate court not to hold the case in abeyance, arguing that some intervenors are plaintiffs in a lower-court class-action lawsuit that has been in abeyance since 2001. In that case, a District Court referred questions on both inter- and intrastate ICS calls to the commission, but the agency took over 15 years to answer, the inmate family advocacy group told the D.C. Circuit, which recently asked parties to show cause why its review shouldn't be delayed given the FCC changes. "Delaying resolution of these important issues would subject the class action plaintiffs to an additional and indefinite delay in obtaining relief from the excessively high cost of calls to and from prisons," said the group's response (in Pacer) Tuesday in Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461.