The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the USF in Consumers’ Research v. FCC could prove critical as justices hear argument Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s legal authority to impose tariffs, said Adam White, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, in a blog post Monday. The case turns on how justices view presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, White wrote. “If justices see the Trump tariffs as mainly a matter of foreign policy, and if they see IEEPA’s ‘regulate’ provision as ambiguous, then perhaps they will give substantial deference to the president’s interpretation.”
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday agreed to stay Consumers’ Research’s latest challenge to the USF because of the federal government shutdown, as requested by the FCC (see 2510310043), said an order in docket 25-60535. The request wasn’t opposed by any of the parties in the case. A lawyer involved in the proceeding said the order was “no big deal” and responds to a motion that the government is filing in almost all new non-urgent cases.
Paramount Skydance reportedly is set to announce Wednesday that it will cut about 1,000 employees, less than three months after its merger with Skydance Media closed (see 2508070027). The combined company is also reportedly trying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (see 2509110067). The cuts will affect mostly U.S. employees, and additional layoffs are planned later, reports said.
Comcast, Google and T-Mobile are among at least 10 tech and telecom companies that the White House said Thursday have donated to President Donald Trump’s proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom. Trump on Wednesday estimated the ballroom’s construction will cost $300 million, up from the administration’s initial projection of $200 million. Other donating companies include Amazon, Apple, HP, Facebook parent Meta, Microsoft, Micron and Palantir. The family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is also a donor, the White House said.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr reacted Saturday to the nationwide No Kings protests, saying in a post on X that the demonstrations “were more effective than they appeared,” because the U.S. has a president “with a mandate to make his country great” instead of a king. “We have a President, elected by an historic and overwhelming vote of the American people -- an election won in the face of lawfare, media opposition, and multiple attempts to take away the choice that rightly resides in the hands of our electorate,” Carr wrote, with a photo of President Donald Trump’s face accompanying the post.
Some Chinese testing labs are urging the FCC to reconsider its revocation of their recognition. The agency started proceedings in September to remove the recognition from some labs it said were controlled by the Chinese government (see 2509080058), and it denied recognition renewal applications for others (see 2509260036). In filings posted Friday, several argued that there's no ground for them to lose recognition.
A new study by the Computer & Communications Industry Association questions whether European carriers really have been hampered by EU regulation. European providers “have promoted this narrative to justify radical changes in European regulation,” it argued. “Europe, they say, is lagging behind in digital investment even though telecom operators, and particularly incumbents, have been investing heavily in 5G and FTTP [fiber-to-the-premises] coverage.”
Most, if not all, of the money left over from BEAD after deployment work is done should go back to the U.S. Treasury, former FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly wrote Tuesday. States' BEAD plans ultimately could come in 30%-50% below budget, said O'Rielly, an adjunct senior fellow at the Free State Foundation. "Even in D.C.," the $20 billion or so that it would save "is real money." By returning the excess money, which resulted from the "Benefit of the Bargain" reforms to BEAD, the Commerce Department would show "that the Trump Administration is indeed giving American taxpayers a real 'Benefit,'" he said. It's also "the most reasonable course," given the national debt. However, O'Rielly added that there's a valid argument that some funds should be held back for inevitable, unforeseen deployment needs, as some BEAD funding winners "will fumble."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday agreed to stay filings on a T-Mobile request asking the court to rehear en banc its challenge of an FCC data fine (see 2509220056). The government sought the stay citing the ongoing shutdown (see 2510010044). “This proceeding is stayed until funding to FCC and DOJ is restored, and all pending and potential deadlines are tolled,” said a one-page order from the court.
NTIA appeared to be among the Commerce Department agencies that the White House OMB targeted Friday with staff firings as part of the Trump administration’s previously threatened reduction-in-force plans during the federal government shutdown, communications industry officials and lobbyists told us. It was unclear how many NTIA employees OMB fired or whether anybody at the FCC was affected. Spokespeople for both agencies didn’t immediately comment.