Fifth Circuit Judges Probe USF Spending, Administrator

Judges probed the role of the $8 billion-per-year Universal Service Fund and its administrator. Conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research is challenging the Federal Communications Commission program again, after a defeat at the Supreme Court in 2025. USF supports building and maintaining rural broadband networks, plus voice and internet discounts for low-income households, schools, and healthcare centers. Taking up a dissent from Justice Neil Gorsuch, Consumers’ Research is arguing that two provisions of the law setting up the fund are invalid under the nondelegation doctrine, the idea that Congress can’t hand its powers to agencies without proper guardrails. A panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in New Orleans. The 2025 6-3 Supreme Court opinion said the rest of the law passed muster under that standard, effectively shielding much of the fund from being declared unconstitutional on those grounds.