Media Contact:
Matthew Berry, (202) 418-2005
matthew.berry@fcc.gov
For Immediate Release
STATEMENT OF FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI
On the D.C. Circuit Yet Again Staying the FCC’s Inmate Calling Rate Regulations
WASHINGTON, November 3, 2016.—Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed 
the FCC’s inmate calling rate regulations for a fourth time.  I am not aware of any other proceeding in 
which the courts have intervened this frequently to block agency action.  Something has gone seriously 
awry at the FCC.
It didn’t have to be this way.  Three times I have urged my colleagues to adopt reasonable 
regulations that would substantially reduce interstate inmate calling rates and survive judicial scrutiny.  
Three times they have declined. And so here we are yet again—left with little more than a faded 
headline.
Unfortunately, this is part of a much broader trend at the Commission.  Too often, bipartisan 
compromises have been rejected and the Commission has barreled ahead with legally flawed decisions on 
party-line votes.  This isn’t how the FCC used to operate.  I hope that the agency will someday return to 
working together to deliver actual, legally sustainable results for the American people.
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Office of Commissioner Ajit Pai: (202) 418-2000
Twitter: @AjitPaiFCC
www.fcc.gov/leadership/ajit-pai
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official
action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).