NextWave Ruling Spells Victory and Defeat

The Court's decision should end what has become a seemingly never-ending war between NextWave and the FCC. Although this war may be over, bankruptcy court jurisdiction was a major casualty of the campaign waged in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. As discussed later in this article, NextWave's initial battles were twice fought in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, with the outcome ultimately determined by the Second Circuit. It held, not once but twice, that the Bankruptcy Court lacks jurisdiction to over-rule what it determined to be regulatory actions taken by the FCC (see accompanying article, this page). The Supreme Court's decision did not result from an appeal of the Second Circuit's decisions. Instead, the decision arose from NextWave's appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit). In the D.C. Circuit, NextWave challenged the FCC's denial of its application for reconsideration of the license revocation under the Administrative Procedures Act. The Supreme Court held that the Second Circuit decision was only jurisdictional and, therefore, NextWave's bankruptcy arguments could be re-litigated in the D.C. Circuit.