CBS, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission

In late 1979, in preparation for the 1980 presidential election campaign, the Carter-Mondale Presidential Committee (the committee) attempted to purchase 30 minutes of television airtime from each of CBS, Inc., American Broadcasting Cos., and National Broadcasting Co. (the networks) (plaintiffs). For various reasons, each of the networks refused to sell the committee the airtime that the committee requested. The committee filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (defendant), alleging the networks violated § 312(a)(7) of the Communications Act of 1934 (Communications Act). The FCC ruled in the committee’s favor, with the FCC’s four Democratic commissioners siding with the committee and its three Republican commissioners opposed. The networks appealed to the court of appeals, which upheld the FCC’s ruling. The United States Supreme Court granted the networks’ petition for certiorari to consider whether the FCC properly interpreted and applied § 312(a)(7). The networks objected to the FCC’s determining when the election campaign commenced for purposes of § 312(a)(7) without giving deference to the networks’ views on that question. The networks also objected to the FCC’s requiring the networks to respond to candidates’ requests for access to airtime on an individualized basis, which effectively precluded the networks from adopting uniform policies to handle these requests. Additionally, the networks alleged that the FCC’s implementation of § 312(a)(7) violated the networks’ First Amendment rights by impinging upon the networks’ editorial discretion.