Opinion ID: 3025832
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Incurable Prematurity

Text: We have no jurisdiction to consider an incurably premature petition for review. Tenn. Gas Pipeline Co. v. FERC, 9 F.3d 980, 981 (D.C. Cir. 1993) (per curiam). A petition to review a non-final agency order is incurably premature. See Clifton Power Corp. v. FERC, 294 F.3d 108, 110 (D.C. Cir. 2002). An agency order is non-final as to an aggrieved party whose petition for reconsideration remains pending before the 2 Although the FCC did not raise these jurisdictional issues until filing its merits brief, it is axiomatic that we must satisfy ourselves of our appellate jurisdiction even had the parties not asked us to do so. See, e.g., Adapt of Phila. v. Phila. Housing Auth., 433 F.3d 353, 361 n.10 (3d Cir. 2006); Metro Transp. Co. v. N. Star Reinsurance Co., 912 F.2d 672, 675-76 (3d Cir. 1990). 7 agency. West Penn Power Co. v. EPA, 860 F.2d 581, 583 (3d Cir. 1988). In the case at bar, it is undisputed that at the time Petitioners filed their June 7, 2006 petition for review, their petition for reconsideration of the Second Order was still pending before the FCC and remains pending to this day, see Reply Br. at 5, so the petition for review is incurably premature as to the non-final Second Order. See TeleSTAR, Inc. v. FCC, 888 F.2d 132, 133 (D.C. Cir. 1989) (per curiam) (court lacks jurisdiction to consider prematurely filed petition even after the agency rules on a rehearing request; a new petition must be filed). The petition for review is also incurably premature with respect to the Reconsideration Order because it does not comply with the Hobbs Act. Title 47 U.S.C. § 402(a) refers to chapter 158 of Title 28, commonly called the Hobbs Act, see Stone v. INS, 514 U.S. 386, 392, 115 S. Ct. 1537, 131 L. Ed. 2d 465 (1995), to determine when a petition for review of an FCC order must be filed with a federal court of appeals. The Hobbs Act’s timing provision states in relevant part: On the entry of a final order reviewable under this chapter, the agency shall promptly give notice thereof by service or publication in accordance with its rules. Any party aggrieved by the final order may, within 60 days after its entry, file a petition to review the order in the court of appeals wherein venue lies. 8 28 U.S.C. § 2344. “[T]he 60 day period for seeking judicial review set forth in the Hobbs Act is jurisdictional in nature, and may not be enlarged or altered by the courts.” N.J. Dep’t of Envtl. Prot. & Energy v. Long Island Power Auth., 30 F.3d 403, 414 (3d Cir. 1994) (quoting Natural Res. Def. Council v. NRC, 666 F.2d 595, 602 (D.C. Cir. 1981)); see also Fed. R. App. P. 26(b)(2). In Western Union Telegraph Co. v. FCC, 773 F.2d 375 (D.C. Cir. 1985), the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit defined “entry” of FCC orders for purposes of § 2344 as “the date upon which the [FCC] gives public notice of the order.” Id. at 376 (relying on 47 U.S.C. § 405). An FCC regulation in turn defines “public notice” as “publication in the Federal Register” with respect to orders released in rulemaking proceedings. 47 C.F.R. § 1.4(b)(1). In Western Union, the FCC adopted an order on March 1, 1985, released it to the public on March 8, 1985, and published it in the Federal Register on March 21, 1985. Meanwhile, on March 15, 1985, after the order’s public release but before its publication in the Federal Register, AT&T filed a petition to review the order in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Based on the court’s definition of “entry” and the FCC’s definition of “public notice,” the D.C. Circuit held that AT&T’s petition was premature, 773 F.2d at 378, and dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction. Id. at 380. In doing so, the court reasoned: It is not a principle of law that all agency action need be reviewable as soon as it is effective and ripe – or indeed that all agency action need be reviewable at all. Here the governing statutes, 28 9 U.S.C. § 2344 and 47 U.S.C. § 405, provide that review is unavailable until the date the [FCC] gives public notice, whether or not the order becomes effective and otherwise ripe before then. Id. at 377; see also Horsehead Res. Dev. Co. v. EPA, 130 F.3d 1090, 1092 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (“jurisdictional statute, requiring filing ‘with the court within thirty days from the date upon which public notice is given,’ established filing window,” not a filing deadline (quoting Waterway Commc’ns Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 851 F.2d 401, 405-06 (D.C. Cir. 1988))). Like AT&T in Western Union, Petitioners here filed their petition for review seven days before the Reconsideration Order was published in the Federal Register. Their petition is therefore incurably premature.3 As we are not bound by Western Union, however, Petitioners criticize it. Specifically, they argue that the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1) did not examine the “specific sequencing language” of 28 U.S.C. § 3 The cases applying 28 U.S.C. § 2344 to FCC orders have all followed Western Union. For example, North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation, Inc. v. FCC, 437 F.3d 1206 (D.C. Cir. 2006), squarely held that “a ‘petition’ for review under [47 U.S.C.] § 402(a) must be filed within sixty days of the date of public notice.” Id. at 1208 (citing § 2344); accord Vernal Enters., Inc. v. FCC, 355 F.3d 650, 655 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (also citing § 2344); see also Freeman Eng’g Assocs., Inc. v. FCC, 103 F.3d 169, 176-77 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (reading “entry” in § 2344 as Federal Register publication). 10 2344; and (2) did not recognize that 47 U.S.C. § 405, which explicitly ties judicial review to public notice, does not apply to orders that do not expressly rule on a reconsideration petition. Neither criticism is persuasive. First, Petitioners insist that § 2344 establishes a date of “entry of [the] final order” antecedent to the date of “notice by publication.” The pertinent FCC regulation states otherwise: “Commission action shall be deemed final, for purposes of seeking reconsideration at the Commission or judicial review, on the date of public notice as defined in § 1.4(b) of these rules.” 47 C.F.R. § 1.103(b). And, as noted previously, for rulemaking proceedings the FCC defines “public notice” as “publication in the Federal Register.” Id. § 1.4(b)(1). Petitioners concede that these two regulations doom their reading of § 2344, but argue that they impermissibly trump the statute. We disagree. The Supreme Court has stated repeatedly that the “power of an administrative agency to administer a congressionally created . . . program necessarily requires . . . the making of rules to fill any gap left, implicitly or explicitly, by Congress.” Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. v. Coke, 127 S. Ct. 2339, 2345 (2007) (quoting Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 843, 104 S. Ct. 2778, 81 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1984)). Under Chevron, we first determine whether a statute is silent or ambiguous on the question we face; if so, we next determine whether the agency’s regulation is based on a reasonable interpretation of the statute. Mercy Home Health v. Leavitt, 436 F.3d 370, 377 (3d Cir. 2006). 11 Here, Congress has not directly spoken to what “entry” means in the Hobbs Act. Petitioners argue that § 2344 contains “specific sequencing language” placing “entry” before notice by publication, so whatever “entry” means, it cannot mean publication in the Federal Register. We are unpersuaded. The first sentence of § 2344 says merely that when “entry” occurs, notice by service or publication must also occur. It remains ambiguous whether “entry” might not occur until publication in the Federal Register. Our reading of the text is buttressed by the fact that prior to the promulgation of 47 C.F.R. § 1.103(b), there had been considerable confusion in the application of § 2344 to FCC decisions. See ITT World Commc’ns, Inc. v. FCC, 621 F.2d 1201, 1206 (2d Cir. 1980) (Newman, J.); id. at 1210 (Mansfield, J.) (urging the FCC to “promulgate straightforward regulations explaining how and when their reviewable orders are to issue” (internal citation omitted)). Indeed, in direct response to this judicial invitation, the FCC promulgated § 1.103(b). See In the Matter of Addition of new Section 1.103, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 85 F.C.C.2d 618, 623 (“statutory terms ‘entry’ of a final order and ‘the date upon which public notice is given’ have the same meaning”), published at 46 Fed. Reg. 18,551, 18,554 (March 25, 1981). Because Congress has not defined “entry” in the Hobbs Act and its meaning is ambiguous, we proceed to step two of the Chevron analysis and consider whether the regulations are based on a reasonable interpretation of the statute. First, it appears that the FCC’s definition of “entry” as Federal Register publication is inherently reasonable. Compare with Horsehead, 130 F.3d at 1093 (even absent any pertinent agency regulation, default rule is that “promulgation” means Federal Register 12 publication); see also Kentucky v. Brock, 845 F.2d 117, 120 (6th Cir. 1988) (“Administrative agencies have considerable latitude in determining the event that triggers commencement of the judicial review period.” (quoting Associated Gas Distribs. v. FERC, 738 F.2d 1388, 1391 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (per curiam))). Second, courts “give ‘considerable weight’ to a ‘consistent and longstanding interpretation by the agency’” responsible for administering a statute. Int’l Union of Elec., Radio & Mach. Workers v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 631 F.2d 1094, 1106 (3d Cir. 1980) (quoting United States v. Nat’l Ass’n of Sec. Dealers, Inc., 422 U.S. 694, 719, 95 S. Ct. 2427, 45 L. Ed. 2d 486 (1975)). Here, §§ 1.103(b) and 1.4(b)(1) have tied “entry” to Federal Register publication with respect to FCC rulemaking orders since § 1.103(b) was first promulgated in 1981. See, e.g., Small Bus. in Telecomms. v. FCC, 251 F.3d 1015, 1024 (D.C. Cir. 2001); Goodman v. FCC, 182 F.3d 987, 992-93 (D.C. Cir. 1999). In addition, we observe that some members of Congress have indicated their approval of these regulations. When Congress amended 47 U.S.C. § 405 in 1982, the House Conference noted: The Senate amended [§] 405 of the Communications Act by providing that specified pleading pe riods f o r se e k ing a g e nc y reconsideration or judicial review of Commission decisions commence from the date on which the Commission gives “public notice” of its decisions. . . . 13 Recently, the Commission adopted rules which refine the meaning of “public notice.” Addition of new [§] 1.103 to the Commission’s rules, Amendments to [§] 1.4(b), Report and Order, 85 F.C.C.2d 618 (1981). By adopting these rules, the Commission determined that public notice, as that term is used in [§] 405, only can take the form of a written document. See [§] 1.4(b) of the Commission’s rules as amended, 47 C.F.R. [§] 1.4(b) (1981). The kind of written document constituting public notice will be governed generally by the kind of proceeding that is involved. For example, in notice and comment rulemaking proceedings, public notice of a final Commission decision will occur on the date such decision is published in the Federal Register. See [§] 1.4(b)(1) (1981). . . . The Conferees believe that in rulemaking proceedings it is important that the public have the opportunity to obtain a copy of the full text of the Commission decisions before pleading periods for appeal begin. See 47 C.F.R. [§] 1.4(b)(1) (1981). H.R. Rep. No. 97-765, at 57 (1982) (Conf. Rep.), as reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2261, 2301. If the Conference believed that either § 1.103(b) or § 1.4(b)(1) contravened a statute, it would not have cited both approvingly as the basis for the 14 legislation.4 Therefore, the FCC’s regulations interpreting “entry” in the Hobbs Act as publication in the Federal Register are eminently reasonable, and we must defer to that interpretation. Petitioners also criticize Western Union for relying on 47 U.S.C. § 405, which deals primarily with FCC orders ruling on petitions for reconsideration. The FCC order at issue in Western Union unquestionably did not rule on a petition for reconsideration, and yet, in dismissing the petition for judicial review of that order, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit relied on the final sentence of § 405(a), which states: 4 Petitioners’ reliance on a Seventh Circuit case, North American Telecommunications Association v. FCC (NATA), 751 F.2d 207 (7th Cir. 1984) (per curiam), for the proposition that the Hobbs Act’s timing requirements merely prevent “races to the courthouse” as opposed to imposing a mandatory jurisdictional bar is unpersuasive. Not only did Western Union criticize NATA, see 773 F.2d at 379, but the Seventh Circuit itself declined to follow NATA in an analogous context shortly thereafter. See United States v. Hansen, 795 F.2d 35, 38 (7th Cir. 1986). In any event, even NATA on its own terms acknowledges that “a[n FCC] order is deemed ‘entered’ for purposes of judicial review when the [FCC] gives ‘public notice’ of the order, 47 U.S.C. § 405, and a rule of the [FCC], which we cannot say is unreasonable, defines public notice . . . 47 C.F.R. § 1.4(b)(1).” 751 F.2d at 208 (emphasis added). 15 The time within which a petition for review must be filed in a proceeding to which section 402(a) of this title applies, or within which an appeal must be taken under section 402(b) of this title in any case, shall be computed from the date upon which the Commission gives public notice of the order, decision, report, or action complained of. 47 U.S.C. § 405(a). The foregoing sentence plainly applies to all petitions for review to which § 402(a) applies, whether or not the FCC order to be reviewed granted or denied a petition for reconsideration. Indeed, even if the surrounding statutory text (unquoted) rendered the provision’s general applicability ambiguous, the legislative history of § 405 previously quoted indicates that in relying on regulations that apply to judicial review of all FCC rulemaking orders, Congress intended that the last sentence of § 405(a) apply just as broadly. Armed with the plain language, legislative history, and the absence of case law to the contrary, we find that the final sentence of 47 U.S.C. § 405(a) applies to all § 402(a) petitions for review. Finally, the Supreme Court’s statement that the “requirement of administrative finality” is to be “interpreted pragmatically,” Bell v. New Jersey, 461 U.S. 773, 779, 103 S. Ct. 2187, 76 L. Ed. 2d 312 (1983), does not alter our conclusion. Had Petitioners filed their petition for review after the Hobbs Act’s sixty-day filing period had expired, we would have lacked jurisdiction, despite the fact that the Reconsideration Order unquestionably would have been final. Filing a petition before the sixty-day filing period begins likewise deprives us of jurisdiction. See Horsehead, 130 F.3d at 1092; cf. id. at 1095 16 (“Although the result we reach may seem harsh, we note that ‘nothing prevented [Petitioners] from supplementing [their] premature petition with a later protective petition.’” (quoting Western Union, 773 F.2d at 380)) Accordingly, a pragmatic interpretation of finality does not save Petitioners here; finality is a necessary condition of judicial review, but it is not sufficient under the applicable statute, which limits our appellate jurisdiction ab initio to petitions filed within the sixty-day period prescribed by statute. In sum, because we find persuasive the line of cases from the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit beginning with Western Union, we hold that a petition to review a rulemaking order of the FCC is incurably premature when it is filed before the rulemaking order is published in the Federal Register. Title 47 U.S.C. § 402(a) governs this petition for review by reference to the Hobbs Act, and the date of “entry” of the FCC’s Reconsideration Order is the same as the date the FCC gave “public notice” thereof. Both 47 C.F.R. § 1.103(b) and 47 U.S.C. § 405(a) mandate such a construction. Title 47 C.F.R. § 1.4(b)(1), which then defines “public notice” as “publication in the Federal Register” for rulemaking orders, is a reasonable interpretation of the Hobbs Act. Accordingly, the instant petition to review the Reconsideration Order is incurably premature because it was filed seven days prior to the order’s publication in the Federal Register, and we have no jurisdiction to consider the petition.