Verizon: FCC Not Best Judge of Its Authority

Verizon Wireless is hoping to have its wireless deregulatory cake and eat it too. In a brief in the Supreme Court, the company said the court should rule that the deference the courts generally give an expert agency's subject area expertise when it reviews a challenge to one of those decisions should not extend to the agencies' determination of the scope or existence of its statutory authority. In other words, the Federal Communications Commission should not be the arbiter of the limits of its own authority, which should be the purview of the courts.

But the case at issue was one in which the FCC determined it had the authority to cut through local delays in tower citing approvals, a move applauded by cell companies including Verizon Wireless. In its filing, Verizon says as a general matter, courts should not give Chevron deference, but instead adjudicate de novo on whether there is statute providing the authority, but that the court need not overturn the ruling itself, since the company argues Congress has given the FCC that express authority to preempt local and state regulations.