Prisoner Advocates Expected to Seek Transfer of IPCS Case to 1st Circuit
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said Tuesday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was chosen in a lottery to review the FCC’s recent controversial changes to rules for incarcerated people's communications services (see 2512300044). Industry officials said they expect that groups representing prisoners and their families will move to transfer the case to the 1st Circuit, which heard the appeal of the original 2024 order.
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In filing for review at the D.C. Circuit, the United Church of Christ's Media Justice Ministry said the 1st Circuit is the proper venue to hear the case (see 2512160048). “The order now on review arises in the same proceeding as that currently before the First Circuit,” the group noted in its petition, filed earlier this month. If a lottery is held and the D.C. Circuit is selected, “UCC Media Justice respectfully suggests that the consolidated cases should be transferred to the First Circuit.”
NCIC, meanwhile, could seek a transfer to the 5th Circuit, where it filed an appeal, said lawyers in the proceeding. Securus, which challenged the 2024 order, argued repeatedly, including during oral argument of the case in October, that the 5th Circuit was the proper venue to hear the challenge (see 2510070044). A lawyer active in the proceeding said IPCS providers probably won’t seek to move the case this time, and the 5th Circuit “would probably agree that there isn't any genuine jurisdictional peg to justify” transfer.
The 1st Circuit is unique in that most of its active judges are Democratic appointees. The 5th Circuit is widely considered the most conservative in the nation, with six appointees named by President Donald Trump during his first term. By filing challenges in four different circuits, opponents of the rule rollback made it less likely that the 5th Circuit would win the lottery, industry officials said.