Federal Communications Commission v. Beach Communications, Inc.
United States Supreme Court
508 U.S. 307, 113 S.Ct. 2096, 124 L.Ed.2d 211 (1993)
- Written by Richard Lavigne, JD
Facts
Beach Communications (plaintiff) petitioned the federal court of appeals for review of an interpretive ruling of the Federal Communications Commission (defendant). Beach Communications operated satellite television systems that served multiple buildings owned by different parties. The Commission ruled that satellite systems serving multiple buildings owned by different parties were subject to certain federal regulations, whereas satellite systems serving multiple buildings under common ownership were not. The court of appeals found no rational basis for the distinction and held that the exemption to regulation afforded to common ownership systems violated the equal protection guarantees of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The FCC petitioned the United States Supreme Court for review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Thomas, J.)
Concurrence (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
