City of Arlington, Texas, et al., Petitioners v. Federal Communications Commission et al. (569 U.S. 290)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 20, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 569 U.S. 290 · 133 S. Ct. 1863
- Docket
- No. 11-1545
- Argued
- January 16, 2013
- Decided
- May 20, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Justice Scalia (wrote), Justice Thomas, Justice Ginsburg, Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Breyer (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Chief Justice Roberts (wrote), Justice Kennedy, Justice Alito
Oral argument transcript and advocates · Opinion on Justia
Opinion excerpt
Justice SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court. We consider whether an agency's interpretation of a statutory ambiguity that concerns the scope of its regulatory authority (that is, its jurisdiction) is entitled to deference under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). I Wireless telecommunications networks require towers and antennas; proposed sites for those towers and antennas must be approved by local zoning authorities. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress "impose[d] specific limitations on the traditional authority of state and local governments to regulate the location, construction, and modification of such facilities," Rancho Palos Verdes v. Abrams, 544 U.S. 113, 115, 125 S.Ct. 1453, 161 L.Ed.2d 316 (2005), and incorporated those limitations into the Communications Act of 1934, see 110 Stat. 56, 151. Section 201(b) of that Act empowers the Federal Communications Commission to "prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary in the public interest to carry out [its] provisions." Ch. 296, 52 Stat. 588, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 201(b). Of course, that rulemaking authority extends to the subsequently added portions of the Act. See AT & T Corp. v. Iowa Utilities Bd., 525 U.S. 366, 377-378, 119 S.Ct. 721, 142 L.Ed.2d 835 (1999). The Act imposes five substantive limitations,…
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