Supreme Court’s Junk-Fax Case Spotlights Agency Deference

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to weigh whether district courts must defer to Federal Communications Commission interpretations of the federal robocall law.

The high court March 25 will hear oral argument in a case involving an unwanted promotional fax that healthcare information company PDR Network LLC allegedly sent to a chiropractic office.

At issue is the amount of deference courts owe to the FCC under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which generally bars the sending of unsolicited advertisements via fax. The FCC has said that faxes promoting free goods qualify as advertisements under the law.

“If the FCC gets ...