Statement of Commissioner Pai on the D.C. Circuit Staying the FCC's Inmate Calling Rate Regulations for a Third Time

On March 23, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit yet again stayed the Federal Communications Commission’s inmate calling rate regulations. The ruling comes on the heels of the latest judicial reversal of the FCC in this proceeding. Just two weeks ago, that same court stayed the rate regulations that the agency sought to impose on inmate calling services.

Nonetheless, the Commission issued a Public Notice claiming that these regulations—and specifically, their application to intrastate rates—would take effect anyway. The court’s decision March 23 cut this end-run short. Over the past three weeks alone, the FCC’s decisions have been rebuffed three times in court; rejected in extraordinary fashion by a large, bipartisan group of Senators; and rebuked sharply by Members of the House from both parties. At some point, even this agency has to acknowledge that the law isn't an invitation to semantic chicanery and good government isn’t discretionary.