US Supreme Court backs FCC’s defense of fund for expanded telecom access

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday endorsed the way the Federal Communications Commission funds its multi-billion dollar program to expand phone and broadband internet access to low-income and rural Americans and other beneficiaries.

The 6-3 ruling overturned a lower court’s decision that the FCC’s funding mechanism employing mandatory contributions from telecommunications companies had effectively levied a “misbegotten tax” on consumers in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s vesting of legislative authority in Congress.