Law firm Perkins Coie sued the U.S. government over a White House executive order aimed at the firm, and the lawsuit names the FCC and Chairman Brendan Carr as defendants, along with a host of agencies and agency leaders. A federal judge reportedly temporarily blocked the executive order in a ruling Wednesday. No order was yet visible in the docket Wednesday evening. The order, which accuses Perkins Coie of “undermining democratic elections” and committing racial discrimination through its diversity policies, limits the firm’s attorneys from accessing federal buildings and requires federal contractors to disclose relationships with it, among other things. It targets the firm over its past representation of former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and its work with George Soros. “The Order is an affront to the Constitution and our adversarial system of justice,” said the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration.”
The Judicial Conference of the U.S. is calling for 69 additional U.S. District Court judges and two extra U.S. Court of Appeals judges -- both in the 9th Circuit -- to handle a growing caseload problem. It said Tuesday that District Court filings increased 30% since 1990, when the last comprehensive judgeship bill was enacted, while the number of authorized District Court judgeships is up only 4% since 1991. The number of federal civil cases pending more than three years grew from 18,280 on March 31, 2004, to 81,617 on March 31, 2024, it added. The Judicial Conference recommendation doesn't include additional federal judges in Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump's high-profile promise of a Golden Dome that will protect the U.S. from missile attacks will require spectrum to operate, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Tuesday. But the dome won’t necessarily use spectrum being examined for 5G or needed by DOD, it said.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a public interest group petition for en banc review of the court’s decision against the FCC’s 2024 net neutrality order, an order said Tuesday. “The original panel has reviewed the petition for rehearing and concludes that the issues raised in the petition were fully considered upon the original submission and decision of the cases,” it said. After the petition (see 2502180050) was circulated to the full court, no 6th Circuit judge requested a vote on the petition for rehearing, the order said.
Major trade groups are at odds with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on whether the FCC should reconsider its January declaratory ruling in response to the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks. That ruling was opposed by now-Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2501160041). The FCC concluded then that Section 105 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) “affirmatively requires telecommunications carriers to secure their networks from unlawful access or interception of communications.”
FCC leadership, including Chairman Brendan Carr, is already closely aligned with President Donald Trump's agenda, lessening the effect of the president's executive order about increasing White House control over independent agencies like the FCC, Davis Wright attorneys blogged Monday. Carr's FCC will likely follow Trump's agenda and priorities in practice, regardless of the theoretical independence of commissioners, Davis Wright said. But an issue could arise that sees Republican-appointed commissioners splitting with Trump on key issues, it said. In that case, the level of presidential control over the FCC's agenda and whether Trump can remove commissioners over policy disagreements "may have serious practical consequences."
The American Civil Liberties Union, Committee to Protect Journalists and others are expressing dismay at what they see as the FCC putting politically motivated pressure on media organizations and broadcasters "who exercise protected speech that the current administration disfavors."
Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen told us that a potential vote on a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) to undo the FCC's July 2024 order allowing E-rate funding for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless could be difficult for “a lot of senators because the applications for" that money are coming from 46 states (see 2503060059).
The FCC has received complaints indicating that Google's YouTube TV has a policy of discriminating against faith-based programming, according to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Carr posted Friday on X a letter he sent to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. In it, Carr requested that Google and YouTube brief FCC staff on the role of virtual multichannel video programming distributors in the media marketplace "and YouTube TV's carriage negotiation process, including the potential role of viewpoint-based discrimination." Carr cited a complaint from Great American Media alleging that YouTube TV "deliberately marginalizes faith-based and family-friendly content" and "refuses to carry" its Great American Family network.
The Senate Commerce Committee was eyeing a March 13 confirmation hearing for NTIA nominee Arielle Roth and potentially also FCC nominee Olivia Trusty, but that panel wasn’t final as of Thursday afternoon, several communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. President Donald Trump nominated Roth, Senate Commerce Republicans’ telecom policy director, in early February (see 2502040056). Trump picked Trusty, a Senate Armed Services Committee Republican staffer, for the FCC seat that former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel vacated Jan. 20 (see 2501160077).