The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board issued a blistering rebuke of the U.S. Supreme Court in a Friday opinion piece where it blasted its latest 6-3 ruling on taxation as “the most disappointing decision” of the term – and accused the justices of ripping apart a core constitutional protection against government overreach.
The case that drew the editorial board’s ire on Friday centered on a Federal Communications Commission program created by Congress in 1996 to fund “universal service” in telecom access. The FCC levies what amounts to taxes on providers and consumers to fund the program, and has delegated the authority to collect those fees to a private nonprivate.
A majority led by Justice Elena Kagan upheld the program, ruling that Congress had provided enough “qualitative” guidance in the statute by requiring revenue to be “sufficient” to “advance universal service” in “rural” and “high cost areas," the board noted. Kagan argued that “sufficient” created a “floor” and “ceiling” on the agency’s taxing authority.
But in a forceful dissent, Justice Neil Gorsuch warned that the decision permits Congress to outsource its taxing power with virtually no accountability – a position the Journal sided with Friday as it blasted the majority.
“The Court’s abdication will encourage Congress to delegate more tax and regulatory power to agencies to dodge accountability,” the conservative board wrote. “The current Court has done much to fortify the separation of powers. Alas, it does the opposite here, undermining political accountability and individual liberty.”
