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Federal Communications Commission, et al. v. Prometheus Radio Project, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 17-1107, 17-1109, 17-1110, 17-1111, 18-1092, 18-1669, 18-1670, 18-1671, 18-2943, 18-3335 · judgment September 23, 2019

Decided · April 1, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 42% cert probability (95% interval 29%–56%)

Before the decision, about 10.2× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, a Third Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

Consolidated with 19-1241. To preserve competition and viewpoint diversity, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has historically restricted the ability of broadcasters to own multiple outlets in a single market. In Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 303 note, Congress directed the FCC to review these ownership rules every four years to "determine whether any of such rules are necessary in the public interest as the result of competition," and to "repeal or modify any regulation [the FCC] determines to be no longer in the public interest." In 2003, the FCC sought to relax certain ownership rules that it had determined were no longer necessary in light of dramatically changed market conditions. In a series of three appeals spanning the past 17 years, however, the same divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has repeatedly vacated the FCC's attempts to reform its ownership rules. The effect of those decisions has been to maintain in effect decadesold FCC ownership restrictions that the agency believes to be outmoded. In the decision below, the panel majority vacated the FCC's revised ownership rules and other regulatory changes solely on the ground that the agency had not adequately analyzed the potential effect of the regulatory changes on female and minority ownership of broadcast stations. The question presented is as follows: Whether the court of appeals erred in vacating as arbitrary and capricious the FCC orders under review, which, among other things, relaxed the agency's crossownership restrictions to accommodate changed market conditions.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

For respondent
Ruthanne Mary Deutsch
Deutsch Hunt, PLLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage · 16 merits
(6 supporting pet./neither, 10 respondent)

Related
Vide, 19-1241

Argument & decision

Argued January 19, 2021 — Malcolm L. Stewart · Helgi C. Walker · Ruthanne M. Deutsch. Audio and transcript

Decided April 1, 2021. Opinion by Kavanaugh.

Proceedings

  1. May 03 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Apr 01 2021
    Judgment REVERSED. Kavanaugh, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion. VIDED.
  3. Jan 19 2021
    Argued. For petitioners in 19-1231: Malcolm L. Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For petitioners in 19-1241: Helgi C. Walker, Washington, D. C. For respondents: Ruthanne M. Deutsch, Washington, D. C. VIDED.
  4. Jan 08 2021
    Motion for divided argument filed by the Acting Solicitor General GRANTED. VIDED.
  5. Jan 08 2021
    Reply of petitioner FCC, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  6. Jan 08 2021
    Reply of Industry Petitioners filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  7. Dec 23 2020
    The record received from the U.S.C.A. 3rd Circuit, for case numbers 19-1231 & 19-1241 (Consolidated). The record has been filed electronically for both case numbers.
  8. Dec 23 2020
    Amicus brief of Public Knowledge not accepted for filing. (December 23, 2020)
  9. Dec 23 2020
    Amicus brief of Public Knowledge not accepted for filing. (December 23, 2020)
  10. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Public Knowledge filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  11. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amici curiae of District of Columbia, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  12. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Members of Congress filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  13. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Former FCC Commissioners filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  14. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amici curiae of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  15. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Media Law and Policy Scholars filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  16. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of The American Statistical Association filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  17. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Professors of Communications Law, Policy, and Administrative Law, and Doctors of Economics and Social Science filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  18. Dec 23 2020
    Amicus brief of Sue Wilson, Media Action Center not accepted for filing. (January 14, 2021)
  19. Dec 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Sue Wilson, Media Action Center filed (Corrected PDF submitted - 1/14/21). (Distributed) VIDED.
  20. Dec 22 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Public Citizen filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  21. Dec 16 2020
    Brief of respondents Prometheus Radio Project, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  22. Dec 11 2020
    Motion for divided argument filed by petitioners FCC, et al. VIDED.
  23. Dec 08 2020
    CIRCULATED
  24. Dec 03 2020
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 3rd Circuit.
  25. Nov 25 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. VIDED.
  26. Nov 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Publc Policy Studies filed. VIDED
  27. Nov 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of TechFreedom filed. VIDED
  28. Nov 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Southeastern Legal Foundation filed. VIDED.
  29. Nov 23 2020
    Brief amici curiae of The ABC Television Affiliates Association, The CBS Television Network Affiliates Association, The FBC Television Affiliates Association, and The NBC Television Affiliates filed. VIDED.
  30. Nov 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Gray Television, Inc. filed. VIDED.
  31. Nov 23 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Americans for Prosperity Foundation filed. VIDED.
  32. Nov 17 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, National Association of Broadcasters
  33. Nov 16 2020
    Joint appendix filed (statement of costs filed 4/13/21). VIDED.
  34. Nov 16 2020
    Brief of petitioners FCC, et al. filed.
  35. Nov 16 2020
    Brief of Industry Petitioners filed. VIDED.
  36. Oct 02 2020
    Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-1241 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
  37. Oct 02 2020
    Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 19-1231. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-1231. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
  38. Aug 19 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  39. Aug 05 2020
    Reply of petitioners FCC, et al. filed.
  40. Jul 22 2020
    Waiver of right of Lane, Dennis Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Inc. to respond filed.
  41. Jul 21 2020
    Brief of respondents Prometheus Radio Project; et al. in opposition filed. VIDED.
  42. Jul 20 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Independent Television Group to respond filed.
  43. May 20 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Gray Television, Inc. filed. VIDED
  44. May 13 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 21, 2020, for all respondents.
  45. May 12 2020
    Motion of Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, et al. to extend the time to file a response from May 20, 2020 to July 21, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  46. May 06 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 21, 2020.
  47. May 05 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 20, 2020 to July 21, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  48. Apr 17 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 20, 2020)
  49. Mar 11 2020
    Application (19A879) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until April 18, 2020.
  50. Mar 09 2020
    Application (19A879) to extend further the time from March 19, 2020 to April 18, 2020, submitted to Justice Alito.
    Proof of ServiceWritten Request
  51. Feb 12 2020
    Application (19A879) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until March 19, 2020.
  52. Feb 07 2020
    Application (19A879) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from February 18, 2020 to March 19, 2020, submitted to Justice Alito.
    Main DocumentProof of Service