Consumers’ Research Files New USF Challenge

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 2025 – Consumers’ Research is again looking to challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s $8.6 billion-per-year broadband subsidy in court.

The conservative nonprofit filed Tuesday a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit alleging parts of the law standing up the Universal Service Fund are unconstitutional, and that the nonprofit administering the fund under FCC supervision doesn’t have the power to do so.

In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court ruled in June that the fund passed constitutional muster, causing the telecom industry to breathe a sign of relief. Justices said several provisions of the Telecom Act of 1996 imposed enough guardrails on the FCC that they didn’t illegally take taxing power away from the legislature. The USF is funded by fees on interstate and international voice revenue.