On February 10th, the News Media Alliance, National Newspaper Association, and others sent a joint Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit questioning whether the nondelegation doctrine should be strengthened to not allow Congress from transferring to a federal agency the power to rewrite the postal rate-setting system. Congress has long established the policies governing the operations of the US Postal Service and legal requirements of the rate-setting system. In 2006, Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act tasking the Postal Regulatory Commission will filling in the system’s details, subject to statutory requirements.
Under the interpretation of the Act, the court gave the Commission power to throw out the statutory requirements and entirely rewrite the system without any requirements that they would have to meet. The Commission has now adopted a system with extraordinary rate increases. The Writ states that the Court should take this opportunity to clarify the doctrine and restore the proper balance between the executive and legislative branches of government.
Holly Lubart is Vice President, Government Affairs at the News/Media Alliance. Previously, she served as Vice President of Government Affairs for the PA NewsMedia Association and started her career as a journalist. Lubart has over 20 years of political and communications experience.
