Telecommunications Act of 1996 Consolidated Oral Argument

The Supreme Court heard consolidated oral argument in Federal Communications Commission v. Prometheus Radio Project, a case concerning the Federal Communications Commission’s analysis and repeal of media ownership rules. The FCC is tasked with implementing rules that regulate the sale of and ownership of broadcast media stations. Under federal law, the agency is required to review the rules every four years and determine whether changes are needed to better serve public interest. In the 2016 review, the FCC decided to make no changes to the rules, but in 2017, it changed course and repealed them. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the FCC did not, as required by federal law, properly analyze the impact on minority and women media ownership when they decided to repeal the rules. close