FCC opposes mandamus petition, petitioners reply.
Following our June 15 post reporting that the U.S. Court of Appeals had ordered the FCC to respond to our mandamus petition relative to the revised Form 323, we have received a number of requests for updates on that front. Here’s the scoop.
Apparently as a result of a glitch in the court’s electronic filing process, the FCC reportedly didn’t receive a copy of the court’s order on June 14, when it was issued. The Commission told the court that the Commission learned of the order only through the trade press on June 16. (And the trade press presumably found out about the order from our post.) The FCC asked for, and was granted, a two-day extension of its response time.
On the extended deadline (that would be June 23) the Commission filed its Opposition, which you can read here. Anyone who has followed the Form 323 festivities will find that it makes for most interesting reading.
The petitioners, led by Fletcher Heald, have filed a reply to the FCC’s Opposition. You can read our reply here.
The matter is now teed up for the court’s consideration. Given the tight time limits the court imposed on both the FCC and the petitioners with respect to this latest round of pleadings, we suspect that the court is aware that the July 8 deadline for filing biennial ownership reports on the revised Form 323 is fast approaching. Check back here for further developments.
