Supreme Court upholds $8 billion fund for internet and phone service

The Supreme Court ruled that an $8 billion fund that provides telephone and internet service in rural and low-income communities is constitutional, a break from a string of major rulings by the high court that have sharply curtailed the power of federal agencies. In a 6-3 ruling, the justices found Congress properly granted the Federal Communications Commission discretion to collect fees from telecommunications companies to pay for the Universal Service Fund, which helps ensure equal access to critical communication services. The ruling is a blow to conservatives who had hoped the high court would—for the first time since 1935—find that Congress had violated a constitutional provision that bars it from delegating too much of its authority to other branches of the government, namely the executive and federal agencies. Conservatives have long sought to revive the “nondelegation doctrine” as a means to check a federal bureaucracy they feel has grown too large and powerful. A decision striking down the fund could have opened the door to a host of legal challenges against other powers that Congress has granted to agencies, but a majority consisting of the court’s liberals and several conservatives—including Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett—rejected that idea.