Can Courts Mandate Better Broadband?

In April 2021, State District Court Judge Matthew Wilson in New Mexico ordered school officials to take steps to provide the needed devices and broadband connections for students who are forced to attend school remotely. This ruling was made during the deepest part of the pandemic when most schools in New Mexico were shut down. His ruling was based upon complaints that The New Mexico Public Education Department was not complying with a court decision in the case of Yazzie/Martinez v. the State of New Mexico made in 2018 by Judge Sarah Singleton, who ruled that the education clause of the New Mexico State Constitution meant that all New Mexico school students were entitled to have access to programs and services that gave them an equal chance to learn and thrive. This is the only case I know where a court has said students have a right to good broadband. However, the fact that the State has not responded to the lawsuit tells you all you need to know. State legislators are not going to easily give into courts telling them they must undertake expensive spending programs. It’s always controversial when such edicts come from the federal government, but state governments are more likely to ignore such an order from a state court. I must admit that I never thought of the possibility of courts ordering jurisdictions to fix the broadband gap. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s hard to think that an order from a single judge will free the huge amounts of spending needed to solve the broadband gap.

[Doug Dawson is president of CCG Consulting.]