Court orders FCC to respond to Media and Democracy Project’s mandamus in Fox license fight

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to respond to the Media and Democracy Project’s (MAD) petition for a writ of mandamus. MAD is asking the court to force the agency to act on MAD’s long-pending appeal involving MAD’s challenge to the license renewal of Fox-owned television station WTXF in Philadelphia.

The order marks a significant procedural victory for MAD. Chairman Brendan Carr has refused for 20 months to bring the group’s Application for Review before the full Commission, and by doing so has prevented the organization from obtaining judicial review of the FCC bureau order dismissing MAD’s challenge to Fox.  MAD’s petition to the court noted that at the same time as Carr has refused to bring the Fox challenge before the full Commission, he has simultaneously revived and expedited similar proceedings against ABC, CBS and NBC that serve President Trump’s political interests.

“We welcome the Court’s order requiring the FCC to respond to our mandamus petition,” said Preston Padden, former Fox Broadcasting executive. “Chairman Carr will now have to explain why he has allowed our case to languish while playing ‘hide the ball’ with the courts to shield Fox from review. Today’s order brings us one step closer to our day in court.”

As MAD has noted in two 28(j) letters filed with the court, the FCC’s handling of the Fox challenge is not an isolated incident, but part of a disturbing pattern and practice.  Chairman Carr has played “hide the ball” with several major proceedings — directing bureaus to take actions and then slow-walking internal FCC processes so the bureau actions do not become final, meaning that they cannot be reviewed by the independent judiciary as the law provides.

The court’s action came the same day as a major development in one of the proceedings where Chairman Carr has manipulated FCC processes to prevent judicial review.  Paramount Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on the basis of a bureau order approving up to 100% ownership of the combined company by foreign entities, including sovereign wealth funds.

Tuesday’s order cited, in part, a  28(j) filing MAD made on Monday about the Paramount Skydance financing order.  That letter highlighted Commissioner Anna Gomez’s accusation that the FCC allowed “some of the most repressive governments in the world” to indirectly control a significant stake in the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery, while “sneaking this ruling out as a staff-level decision” without a full Commission vote.

“On the same day Skydance is celebrating on Wall Street, Chairman Carr is being called to explain himself to the court,” said Milo Vassallo, executive director and co-founder of MAD. “Carr has spent his tenure acting as President Trump’s MAGA censorship czar, wielding the FCC’s power against media companies that displease the President while shielding Fox from judicial review. This ruling is an important procedural victory towards ending the Commission’s illegal shell game.”

MAD originally filed its Petition to Deny in July 2023, arguing that Fox Corporation's broadcast license should be reviewed under the Communications Act's longstanding character requirements following judicial findings in the Dominion Voting Systems litigation that Fox disseminated false claims about the 2020 presidential election. In the final days of Chair Jessica Rosenworcel's tenure, the FCC consolidated MAD's petition and complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC into a single docket. Yet Chairman Carr has treated these “alike” matters very differently, reviving the complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC while leaving MAD's appeal of the Fox decision unresolved.

The Media and Democracy Project:

MAD is a non-partisan, volunteer-led, grassroots organization focused on strengthening a free and independent media in the public interest. MAD aims to improve our national discourse so that American voters can engage in informed decision-making. As part of that goal, MAD has an interest in the responsibility of journalists and media to report fully, accurately and fairly on the electoral process and the outcome of elections. Additional information is available at www.MediaAndDemocracyProject.Org.