Administrative Law and the Federal Communications Commission

Abstract

The decision of the Federal Communications Commission to repeal net neutrality regulations in 2018 was met with legal challenges arguing that the Commission did not have authority under administrative law to make such sweeping policy changes. In light of the net neutrality court battles, this historical analysis of FCC cases examines the way the Supreme Court of the United States has evaluated the FCC’s regulatory authority in cases that invoke economic considerations. The analysis indicates that the Court interprets both the Communications Act and Administrative Procedures Act as providing the FCC with considerable latitude to determine ways to regulate economic focused areas of communications, including the license application process, regulation of new technologies and challenges from citizens groups.