Overview
Law360 quoted Pantelis Michalopoulos in a March 24 article titled “FCC Faces Quandary if Obama-Era Privacy Rules Get Boot.” The article discusses why the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may face an untested legal question of whether it can adopt an alternative preferred by the agency's new GOP chairman if the House follows the US Senate’s lead in voting to undo late Obama-era FCC privacy rules for internet service providers.
Mr. Michalopoulos says the FCC in moving forward with alternative rules could set new precedent in interpreting the law. “There is no precedent for what exactly the agency can do and what leeway it has. … I would hope that the FCC in consultation with key committees in Congress would prepare a rule that addresses privacy but that passes muster under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).”
Mr. Michalopoulos was also quoted as saying he has long feared use of the CRA as a “blunt instrument” and hoping that Congress “at least informally will be flexible when it comes to coming up with rules that are sufficiently different from the ones that were eliminated.”
The full article can be read at Law360 (subscription required).