FCC, States and Providers Oppose En Banc Hearing in ICS Rates Case
The D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals shouldn’t rehear en banc a three-judge panel’s ruling that reversed key FCC 2015 inmate calling service pricing decisions, including intrastate rate caps, said the FCC, states and ICS providers. Wright Petitioners, representing inmate…
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families, asked in July for en banc review, saying that the ruling conflicted with Chevron principles and decisions of the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit (see 1707280058). The petitioners’ request “depends on a misreading of the majority opinion,” the FCC said in a response (in Pacer) last week in Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461. “And the remaining grounds they advance for en banc rehearing fall far short of meeting the stringent standard for that relief.” The court’s Aug. 4 clarification of the majority opinion “makes clear that this case presents no substantial issue regarding application of Chevron,” and petitioners failed to identify any conflict between the panel decision and the court’s prior decisions, ICS providers CenturyLink, Global Tel*Link, Pay Tel, Securus and Telmate said in a joint response (in Pacer). Courts should sparingly grant en banc hearings, and the petitioners failed to provide a compelling argument, a group of state and local governments said in another response (in Pacer). “The Order is unprecedented; the decision vacating it does not conflict with precedent,” they said. “Rehearing is not warranted in this case.”