Yet, in an echo of déjà vu, the D.C. Circuit pinpointed that this very argument crumbled in December against the formidable might of China Telecom.
FCC Banning Chinese Telecoms : A Law Unfettered
Cementing the FCC’s position, the panel illuminated that there’s no legal bind tethering the FCC to launch a full-blown rulemaking procedure to gauge “specific risks posed by these individual carriers.” In a surprising revelation, the judges also noted that the FCC isn’t mandated to liaise with other agencies—yet it had chosen to do so, painting a thorough process.
With resounding clarity, the panel announced that the FCC had “amply proved facts establishing both a national-security risk and a lack of trustworthiness.” This effectively cleared the path for their decision to rescind the telecoms’ authorizations.
Powerhouse Legal Minds Behind the Battle
U.S. Circuit Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Gregory G. Katsas, and Harry T. Edwards helmed the D.C. Circuit’s panel.
Pacific Networks and ComNet marched into this legal battlefield armed with Jeffrey Carlisle, Stephen E. Coran, and Christopher J. Wright. The FCC brandished its in-house champions, Matthew Joel Dunn, Jacob M. Lewis, and Scott Matthew Noveck. The federal government’s frontline was fortified by Brian Matthew Boynton, Casen Ross, and Sharon Swingle from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
