Rosenworcel Confident FCC Rules Will Survive in Court

WASHINGTON, August 22, 2024 – The Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings weakening the power of federal agencies. But Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told GOP lawmakers she’s not worried.

“The staff at the FCC work diligently to ensure that all regulations have a firm  grounding in the law,” she wrote in a letter posted Tuesday, “and I remain confident that the Commission’s rules and decisions will withstand judicial review under the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and other applicable precedent.”

The high court expanded its major questions rule in 2022, preventing agencies from acting on “issues of vast political and economic significance” without explicit authorization from Congress. In July, the Court’s Loper Bright decision struck down the longstanding practice of deferring to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, and another ruling made it more difficult for agencies to enforce civil penalties.