The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit refused to hear further arguments by the Federal Communications Commission to justify its decision supporting a Missouri state ban on municipally-owned telecommunications.
The appeals panel ruled in August that the FCC used a Cable Act definition that was too narrow when it upheld a 2001 law made by the Missouri General Assembly. That law prevents cities and counties from applying for the required certificate of necessity to become a telecommunications provider.
The appeals panel told the FCC to revisit the issue, but attorneys for the agency asked for an en banc hearing, in which all of the judges in the Eighth Circuit would rehear the case.
The court refused that request in an Oct. 22 ruling, and it also declined to have the original three-judge panel review its order.
