Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.

Utility and broadband interests are pushing the FCC for changes to the agency's pole attachment item on its July 24 meeting agenda. In a speech earlier this month laying out his "Build America" agenda, Chairman Brendan Carr highlighted the pole attachment draft order and a copper line retirement draft NPRM, also on July's agenda, as prime examples of an intertwined focus on infrastructure deployment and deregulation (see 2507020036). Communications infrastructure deployment experts have mixed feelings about whether the pole attachment item notably eases pole attachment gripes. Commissioners' unanimous approval is expected, as pole attachment issues are generally nonpartisan.

The FCC avoided a potentially disastrous result when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the USF contribution factor in its Consumers’ Research decision last month (see 2507020049), HWG’s Chris Wright said during a practitioners panel that was part of an FCBA CLE Tuesday (see 2507150081). “If the case had gone the other way” it would have “called into question almost everything in the Communications Act,” said Wright, a former FCC general counsel.

The FCC's move to consider an NPRM on copper retirements at the July 24 open meeting (see 2507030049) is part of a global trend, experts said Tuesday during a World Broadband Association webinar. Operators worldwide have the same concerns as those in the U.S. about the cost of maintaining legacy networks as fiber is deployed, panelists said.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday unveiled a full agenda for the Aug. 7 open meeting, leading off with proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Also included are draft orders that Carr said were aimed at streamlining submarine cable licensing and satellite and earth station licensing. As will be true for the July meeting, cutting regulation will be a priority in August (see 2507030049).

The Senate was on track Wednesday to pass a revised version of the 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) that retains language to claw back $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027, despite opposition from Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Public broadcasting supporters continued pressing for some Republicans who voted Tuesday night to clear procedural hurdles for bringing HR-4 to the floor to vote against passing the measure. Senators were voting Wednesday afternoon on Democrats’ amendments to HR-4 after rejecting bids to jettison the CPB defunding language.

AT&T called on California lawmakers Tuesday to grant it and other carriers relief from carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations. A state bill, AB-470, is "only focused on COLR relief in those well-served areas or areas with no population," said Terri Nikole Baca, AT&T vice president of legislative affairs, during a California Senate, Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee hearing. The "idea of a COLR obligation is outdated," she argued. Meanwhile, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) urged the committee to maintain its nearly 30-year-old rules.

Future rules for the 37 GHz band must protect licensed wireless operations in the upper 37 and 39 GHz bands and shouldn’t impose new emissions limits, CTIA said in comments on a Further NPRM aimed at spurring greater use of the spectrum. FCC commissioners approved an order and FNPRM on the band in April and comments were due Monday in docket 24-243. The National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) repeated its concerns (see 2409300028) about protecting the 36-37 GHz earth exploration satellite service (EESS) band, which is critical for science, it said.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month upholding the USF in the Consumers’ Research case was a win for the FCC (see 2507020049), but the fight isn’t over, Jacob Lewis, FCC associate general counsel, said during an FCBA CLE on Tuesday. Lewis warned that Consumers’ Research has already renewed its challenge in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, making a different argument for overturning parts of the fund.

Supporters of the House-passed 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) bid to claw back $1.1 billion of CPB’s advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 got some momentum Tuesday as Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he will back the measure. Rounds indicated he had reached a deal with the White House OMB on an alternative funding source to provide money to Native American radio stations, as expected (see 2507100071). Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee advanced its FY26 budget bill, which would cut NTIA’s annual funding (see 2507140052).