Opinion ID: 2976711
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Chevron Step 1: Statutory Ambiguity

Text: The initial question under step one of the Chevron framework is “whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue” by employing precise, unambiguous statutory language. Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842. This first step is informed by the recognition that “[t]he judiciary is the final authority on issues of statutory construction and must reject administrative constructions which are contrary to clear congressional intent.” Id. at 843, n.9. When conducting the inquiry required by Chevron’s first step, “our primary goal is to effectuate legislative intent using traditional tools of statutory interpretation.” Estate of Gerson, 507 F.3d at 439. In harnessing these tools, we must construe statutory language “in pertinent context rather than in isolation.” Id. In the case at bar, the statutory phrase within section 621(a)(1) which emerges as a candidate for ambiguity is “unreasonably refuse to award an additional competitive franchise.” 47 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1) (emphasis added). Language is ambiguous when “to give th[e] phrase meaning requires a specific factual scenario that can give rise to two or more different meanings of the phrase.” Beck v. City of Cleveland, Ohio, 390 F.3d 912, 920 (6th Cir. 2004). While we have not previously interpreted the phrase “unreasonably” under section 621(a)(1), in the context of other provisions of the Communications Act, courts called upon to ascertain the ambiguity of descriptors such as “reasonable” and “unreasonable” have found these words subject to multiple constructions. In Orloff v. FCC, 352 F.3d 415 (D.C. Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 542 U.S. 937 (2004), for example, the petitioner filed a petition for review of an FCC adjudication which found that Verizon’s practice of granting sales concessions to certain prospective customers did not rise to “unjust or unreasonable” discrimination in violation of 47 U.S.C. § 202(a). In conducting the requisite Chevron analysis, that court stated that “the generality of these terms–unjust, unreasonable–opens a rather large area for the free play of agency discretion, limited of course by familiar arbitrary and capricious standard in the Administrative Procedure Act.” Orloff, 352 F.3d at 420 (internal quotations omitted). Similarly, confronting section 201(b) of the Communications Act, which mandates that any interstate communications charge be “just and reasonable” and characterizes as unlawful any communications charge that is “unjust or unreasonable,” the panel majority explained that “[b]ecause ‘just,’ ‘unjust,’ ‘reasonable,’ and ‘unreasonable’ are ambiguous statutory terms, this court Nos. 07-3391/3569/3570/3571/3572/3573/ Alliance for Community Media Page 12 3574/3673/3674/3675/3676/3677/3824 v. FCC owes substantial deference to the interpretation the Commission accords them.” Capital Network System, Inc. v. FCC, 28 F.3d 201, 204 (D.C. Cir. 1994). Of course, the detection of inherent ambiguity in words such as “reasonable” and “unreasonable” by other courts in other sections of the Communications Act does not terminate the analysis here, because such observations are divorced from the specific context of Title VI. See Bower v. Federal Exp. Corp., 96 F.3d 200, 208-09 (6th Cir. 1996) (“[E]ven facially ambiguous provisions can have their meanings clarified and rendered unambiguous by reference to the statute’s structure or to other unambiguous terms in the statute.”). As petitioners argue, while “unreasonable” may generally engender ambiguity and multiplicity of meaning, it is not inconceivable that its particular usage within section 621(a)(1) is perfectly clear. Thus, we must probe the structure and history surrounding the enactment of section 621(a)(1) to establish whether the use of “unreasonable” in this case fosters ambiguity. Immediately following section 621(a)(1)’s limitation on unreasonable refusals to award additional franchises, the provision cross-references section 635 and thereby charges the courts with the task of determining whether there has been a “failure to comply with this subsection.” 47 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1). Congress’s provision of judicial review as a means to monitor a given LFA’s compliance with section 621(a)(1) suggests that it is not instantaneously apparent whether a refusal to grant a prospective franchisee’s application is necessarily reasonable or not. The legislative decision to delegate to jurists the task of construing and enforcing section 621(a)(1)’s insistence on reasonableness suggests that the statutory phrase at issue is capable of multiple meanings. To choose between these several meanings, courts will have to engage in fact-finding and uncover the particularities of the case at hand. Thus, to give meaning to an “unreasonable denial” will depend upon “a specific factual scenario.” Beck, 390 F.3d at 920. Coupled with case law finding the term “reasonable” generally to engender ambiguity, the fact-sensitive nature of the reasonableness inquiry in the instant context indicates that section 621(a)(1)’s usage of “unreasonably” is ambiguous under Chevron’s first step. Accordingly, our next task is to determine whether the FCC’s explication of this statutory ambiguity is reasonable.