The FCC and Justice Dept. asked the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., to ...
The FCC and Justice Dept. asked the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., to deny a motion by ILECs to leave in place a petition for mandamus on interim UNE-P rules. While a purely procedural fight, sources said the maneuvering has…
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potentially significant implications. If the court denies the motion, it would most likely mean a more-expedited federal appeal of parts of the interim rules opposed by the Bells. A govt. source said the FCC and DoJ are saying in effect: “If people want to appeal the new rules that’s fine, but this isn’t the way to review the new rules.” The source said timing is the key issue: “If the court agrees with what the Bells say it would lead to an expedited review stemming from their filing… They're hoping to use the mandamus to get portions of the new rules thrown out.” FCC and DoJ called the ILEC petition “an extraordinary attempt to use the Court’s mandamus jurisdiction to effect a rolling judicial oversight proceeding that is indifferent to the agency’s ongoing decisional process.” The govt. also argued that ILECs already have other mechanisms of appeal available to them if they disagree with the interim rules. “The Commission’s release of the order promulgating those rules is imminent, and parties aggrieved by those rules (including the ILECs) will be free to challenge them.”