Supreme Court takes up dispute over FCC fund that subsidizes telecom services in rural areas

Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, agreeing to review a lower court decision that upended the mechanism for funding programs that provide communications services to rural areas, low-income communities and schools, libraries and hospitals.

The dispute is the latest in which the high court will consider the power of federal agencies. Among the issues in the case is whether Congress delegated too much authority to the FCC when it tasked the agency with determining how much telecommunications providers must contribute to the Universal Service Fund. The court also asked the lawyers involved in the case to argue whether it is moot because the challengers did not seek preliminary relief before the lower court.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority has in a string of recent decisions taken aim at federal regulatory power amid efforts by the conservative legal movement to rein in the so-called administrative state. In a major ruling in June, the court overruled a 40-year-old decision that said courts should give agencies leeway in interpreting ambiguous laws passed by Congress if their interpretation is reasonable.