Court: FCC EEO Rules ‘Unconstitutional’

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council vows to fight the court decision rejecting the FCC’s new EEO rules. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the rules, saying they put “official pressure upon broadcasters to recruit minority candidates, thus creating a race-based classification that is not narrowly tailored to support a compelling governmental interest and is therefore unconstitutional.” The court decided the portions it considers unconstitutional cannot be separated from the remainder of the rule, so it vacated the entire thing. State broadcast associations challenged the rule on appeal. Outgoing FCC Chairman Bill Kennard called the decision, “a defeat for diversity.”