Broadcast flag ruling [DC Circuit] News
Broadcast flag ruling [DC Circuit]

American Library Association v. FCC, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, May 6, 2005 [ruling that FCC regulations prohibiting the manufacture of video and computer hardware without "broadcast flag" anti-piracy technology are invalid]. Excerpt:

It is axiomatic that administrative agencies may issue regulations only pursuant to authority delegated to them by Congress. The principal question presented by this case is whether Congress delegated authority to the Federal Communications Commission ("Commission" or "FCC") in the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (2000) ("Communications Act" or "Act"), to regulate apparatus that can receive television broadcasts when those apparatus are not engaged in the process of receiving a broadcast transmission. In the seven decades of its existence, the FCC has never before asserted such sweeping authority. Indeed, in the past, the FCC has informed Congress that it lacked any such authority. In our view, nothing has changed to give the FCC the authority that it now claims.

Read the full text of the opinion [PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UK parliament rejected J.S. Mill's proposal to give women the vote

On May 20, 1867, the British Parliament rejected by 196-73 an amendment to the 1867 Reform Act presented by John Stuart Mill that would have permitted women to vote. Review Mill's 1869 work The Subjection of Women.

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