Consumers’ Research Still Says Portions of Universal Service Fund Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2026 – Despite the program being upheld by the Supreme Court last year, Consumers’ Research told federal judges this week parts of the law creating the $8 billion-per-year Universal Service Fund are still unconstitutional.

Those two provisions “give FCC virtually unbounded authority to raise funds for schools, libraries, and health care providers, unconstitutionally delegating to FCC the taxing power reserved to Congress by Article I” of the U.S. Constitution, the group argued in a Monday brief.

The nonprofit lost 6-3 at the high court last year after a previous challenge to the broadband subsidy. The majority said that the Telecom Act of 1996 put adequate guardrails on the Federal Communications Commission’s management of the fund and the program thus did not illegally take taxing power away from the legislature.