FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Tuesday's monthly meeting will be her last. "This has been the most incredible opportunity for me," she said in emotional comments following agency approval of six items. While she said she hasn't always agreed with colleagues, she thanked them and others, and noted she doesn't have her post-FCC "path all laid out" yet.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to transfer net neutrality repeal litigation to the D.C. Circuit for review. In a brief order (in Pacer) Wednesday, a three-judge 9th Circuit panel cited petitioners' unopposed motion to transfer the case (County of Santa Clara v. FCC, No. 18-70506, and consolidated cases).
President Donald Trump intends to nominate Rebecca Slaughter, chief counsel to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to the vacant Democratic FTC seat, as expected (see 1802060039), the White House said late Monday. Slaughter has worked for Schumer since 2009, advising him on competition, consumer protection, privacy, IP and telecom policy issues, among others. She previously was a Sidley Austin associate. Trump’s intended nomination of Slaughter comes weeks after the Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance four other FTC nominees, including antitrust lawyer Joseph Simons, whom Trump plans to designate chairman. The other nominees are former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Assistant Director Rohit Chopra; Noah Phillips, aide to Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Delta Air Lines' Christine Wilson. Schumer’s office didn’t immediately comment.
The FY 2018 omnibus spending bill contains language from the House-passed Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), as expected. House leaders released the spending bill's text Wednesday evening. The House could vote on the measure as soon as Thursday, with a Senate vote to follow. The current continuing resolution to fund the government expires Friday.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said Tuesday he now supports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., recommended choice to replace FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn upon her expected departure from the commission. Schumer recommended Enforcement Bureau Assistant Chief Geoffrey Starks as Clyburn's successor. Nelson in February publicly backed John Branscome, Senate Commerce chief Democratic telecom counsel, to succeed Clyburn.
Federal judges partially upheld and partially overturned an FCC robocalling order that sought to clarify Telephone Consumer Protection Act restrictions on using automated dialing devices to make uninvited calls. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the 2015 declaratory ruling's revocation approach, under which parties can revoke consent "through any reasonable means clearly expressing a desire to receive no further messages from the caller," said the opinion Friday of Judge Sri Srinivasan in ACA International v. FCC, No. 15-1211. "We also sustain the scope of the agency’s exemption for time-sensitive healthcare calls."
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was picked to hear net neutrality repeal litigation, the FCC confirmed Thursday. The 9th Circuit was "randomly selected" by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, said an order a commission spokesman passed along after we inquired.
Federal judges upheld a district court denial of an AT&T motion to dismiss an FTC action alleging the carrier's mobility unit data-throttling plan is unfair and deceptive. The ruling appears to preserve FTC authority over the non-common-carrier activities of common carriers such as AT&T Mobility. An en banc panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said an FTC common-carrier exemption is "activity based," covering common-carrier activities only, not "status based," which would also cover non-common-carrier activities of common carriers.
Principles for President Donald Trump's infrastructure legislative proposal expected to be released Monday will include a promised focus on streamlining the federal environmental permitting process down to a maximum of two years for a wide range of projects that could include broadband, plus state block grants and federal matching funds, administration officials told reporters this weekend. The communications sector has been lobbying for an anticipated broadband title in the infrastructure package.
President Donald Trump's administration Tuesday said it sent the Senate four FTC nominees (see here). If they are all confirmed, both current commissioners would leave. Three of the picks had been expected, plus Delta Air Lines' Christine Wilson. The agency would be at its full complement only if existing Commissioner Terrell McSweeny were to stay, but her term would be filled by the incoming chairman. Earlier this week, the White House announced it was nominating current acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen to be a judge and she would leave once her successor arrives, and that nomination has been sent to the Senate.