The Supreme Court today rejected appeals on two cases that might be of interest to Lawmeme readers.
In the first case, WorldCom Inc. v. United States Telecom Association, 02-858, WorldCom and other companies appealed a ruling by the DC Court of Appeals. The case involved rules by the FCC that required local telecom companies (incumbent local exchange carriers) who provide "last mile" connections to lease those connections to other companies, as well as allow competitive access to them for DSL services. The appeal was rejected because the FCC recently changed its rules. The full story is here.
The second case involved the government's use of wiretaps and other surveillance techniques approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The ACLU had intervened in the case in order to file a writ of certiorari; in an unusual move, it filed on behalf of citizens who may not even know they have been spied on. The Supreme Court rejected the ACLU's movement to intervene. The full story is here.
Neither of these cases were rejected on the merits, so the issues they represent will probably re-appear before the Court.