(CNN) – When Kentucky schools closed for several days last month due to severe flooding, students suddenly began appearing at the Britt County Public Library.
They were coming for the internet.
To pay for the fast connections that some students had short on their homes, the county libraries, like many others across the country, rely on federal programs, courtesy of the Supreme Court, ready for a major overhaul.
“Internet access is a luxury,” said Tarao Hagan, executive director of the library. “In Britt County, there’s literally a digital disparity.”
The incident the judiciary hears on Wednesday could cost billions of people.
When nearly 10% of US households have no access to broadband internet, one of the key programs to close the gap has been caught up in a wider, decades-old separation of power over federal agencies. These cases found purchases at the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court. This repeatedly limits the ability of federal bureaucracy to act without Congressional approval.
The conservative “consumer awareness group” is challenging the $7 billion Universal Services Fund created in 1996 to offset the costs of telephone and internet services for low-income Americans.
It is a system in which critics say it is a “bureaucrat’s dream” and a “constitutional nightmare.”
To pay for programs such as e-Rate, O’Hagan’s libraries rely on, Congress is asking telecom companies to cut billions of dollars into funds. This is usually the cost passed to the customer. Critics say the system is an indirect tax imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, violating what is known as the doctrine of secularism, the idea that Congress cannot delegate its power to federal agencies.
Worse, critics say the FCC essentially outsources the management of the fund to private companies.
“No one wants to be liable for taxes,” said Trent McCotter, an attorney at Boyden Gray’s law firm that opposes the government on Wednesday.
McCotter told CNN that paying for the program through the regular Congressional Expense Bill would be better for schools and libraries in the long run.
“The Universal Services Fund is facing a widely recognized spiral of death and will quickly destroy the program as returns are declining,” he said.
But Capitol Hill’s vast undulations say it puts programs like e-Rate and Lifeline that connect millions of Americans to the internet.
“The impact will be the most prominent and fastest for low-income people,” said John Heitman, a lawyer with the National Lifelines Association, representing around 8 million households and businesses that subsidize telephone and internet services through the fund. “They don’t have the megaphones that companies have.”
A decision is expected by the end of June.
Reduce the “administrative state”
The conservative majority of the Supreme Court has hacked the powers of federal agencies to act on their own in recent years. Most recently, last year’s 6-3 decision overturned the 1984 precedent and demanded that government regulations be paid in many circumstances. After the New Deal, federal agencies’ power expanded dramatically, with Supreme Court Justice John Roberts writing for the majority, and the courts were far from making independent judgments about whether the agencies violated the law.
That decision came shortly after the 2022 blockbuster verdict, which accepted the so-called doctrine of key questions.
The “denocratic doctrine” that blocks Congress from delegating its powers to government agencies, and the prohibition of government agencies from delegating its powers to private companies, are the next targets of that campaign.
The High Court has not evoked secular doctrine since the 1930s. Since instead, since Congress allowed them to delegate their powers under certain conditions.
But particularly conservative groups argue that tolerance is beating the inverted Powers principles, allowing agencies to lead the difficult choices that should be left to elected lawmakers.
That argument drew nods of recognition from at least four conservative justice.
Many of the recent appeals that addressed the power of federal agencies have a political luster, along with conservative groups challenging policies accepted by the Biden administration, including student loan forgiveness, environmental regulations and Covid-19 restrictions.
However, the politics of this case, FCC vs. consumer research is more complicated.
The Biden administration has appealed an unfavorable ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with the Trump administration showing no indication of a deviation course. The Justice Department warned the court this month with a warning against the issue in order to enact laws that would police unfair competition, oversee the securities industry and approve agencies to ensure food and drug safety, on the issue of “Congress relying on this court’s long-standing approach.”
Some of the programs funded through the Universal Services Fund are facing controversy, and even some of the people who argue for them acknowledge that Macotter has points about the fund’s long-term viability.
Still, these supporters hope that President Donald Trump will not try to undermine the program. The program will have a major impact on the rural communities that support his re-election.
When Trump announced his new FCC commissioner in a social media post in January, he noted that agencies will work to cut regulations, protect freedom of speech, and “ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, fast internet.” The statement, although non-specific, was not lost to supporters who wanted to strengthen the program.
Also, former Ohio Senator Vice President JD Vance was a major supporter of Congress’s similar initiative, the Affordable Connectivity Program.
However, the program serves as a warning substance for proponents to expand digital access. Congress’ funds expired last year.
Do you want to cut off rural communities?
Librarians and school officials who spoke to CNN focus on far more impacts and their budgets than politics.
O’Hagan’s said the library spends around $4,000 a month to provide internet to five branches. This means that normal costs will be reduced by 80%. This is the difference covered by e-rate, and in this case it is one of the problem programs.
“Without that support we cannot provide internet access to the most susceptible community members,” she said.
Chase Christensen, the superintendent of Sheridan County School District #3 in northern Wyoming, also relies on an e-rate program that pays about 20% of the cost of managing the school’s internal internet network.
“It picks up a big chunk and makes it a little more affordable,” Christensen said. “Instead of spending on network infrastructure, you can spend these dollars in the classroom.”
The E-Rate program provided approximately $3.26 billion in 2024 interconnectivity discounts. Over 106,000 schools have benefited in the past two years. Sometimes schools use these resources in unobtrusive ways.
“Many of them use the internet to strengthen their security systems or use the internet to control their environment,” says Noel Elerson NG, along with the supervisor group. “It doesn’t even take the kids to school and prepare the school for them.”
Danielle Perry, chief compliance officer at the California-based company called Truconnect, said the Lifeline program will help low-income Americans find better jobs, attend Telehealth visits, and maintain connections with their families.
“That’s something most of us take for granted. Never think about it,” she said. “But these are people who desperately need this program.”
CNN Wire
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Original issue: March 23, 2025 9:51am PDT
