City of Pasadena, Texas v. Crown Castle Fiber, L.L.C.

Respondent Crown Castle Fiber, LLC sued the City of Pasadena, Texas (the City) for a judgment declaring 47 U.S.C. §253 of the Federal Telecommunications Act (the FTA) preempts spacing and undergrounding requirements set forth in the City’s Design Manual for the Installation of Network Nodes1 and Support Poles2 in the City’s public rights-of-way, which the City adopted by a duly enacted ordinance. The district court held Crown Castle’s claim is justiciable and entered a judgment declaring §253 preempts the spacing and undergrounding requirements and prospectively enjoining the City from enforcing the spacing and undergrounding requirements. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the judgment. The issues presented are: I. Whether 47 U.S.C. §253 allows a private party to sue a State or local government in equity to preempt a duly enacted State or local regulation where Congress, as part of its comprehensive enforcement mechanism, entrusted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with authority to preempt State or local regulations only “to the extent necessary to correct” any violation of or inconsistency with §253, and to do so only after providing notice and the opportunity for public comment. 47 U.S.C. §253(d).

1. Network nodes are the equipment that enable communications with a cellular network. Tex. Local G ov ’t Code §284.002(12).

2. Node support poles are the poles—similar to telephone or utility poles–on which a network node is placed. Tex. Local G ov ’t Code §284.002(14).