## Facts

- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) participated with European and Canadian regulators in international telecommunications conferences known as the “Consultative Process,” intended to exchange information and regulatory policies.
- Three FCC commissioners attended certain conferences; together, they constituted a quorum of the FCC’s Telecommunications Committee, a subdivision of the Commission.
- At one conference, the FCC added agenda items on “new carriers and service” to encourage foreign cooperation with its pro-competition policy for overseas record telecommunications.
- ITT World Communications, Inc., and other incumbent overseas record-telecommunications carriers opposed the admission of new competitors.
- The carriers filed a rulemaking petition asking the FCC to (1) disclaim any intent to negotiate with foreign governments or bind itself to agreements at the conferences, and (2) acknowledge that the Government in the Sunshine Act required those conferences to be open to the public.
- The FCC denied the rulemaking petition.
- The carriers sued in federal district court, asserting (1) the FCC’s participation in the Consultative Process was ultra vires and (2) the Consultative Process must comply with the Sunshine Act’s open-meeting requirements.
- The district court dismissed the ultra vires claim for lack of jurisdiction but ordered Sunshine Act compliance; the D.C. Circuit reversed on the ultra vires dismissal and held the Sunshine Act applied.
- The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

## Issues

1. Whether a federal district court has jurisdiction over an ultra vires challenge to FCC conduct when the challenge is, in substance, an attack on a final FCC order subject to exclusive review in the courts of appeals under the Communications Act.
2. Whether FCC commissioners’ participation in the Consultative Process constituted a “meeting” under the Government in the Sunshine Act, triggering open-meeting requirements.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the D.C. Circuit.
- The district court lacked jurisdiction over the ultra vires claim because exclusive jurisdiction to review final FCC orders lies in the courts of appeals, and the claim effectively sought such review.
- The Consultative Process conferences were not “meetings” within the meaning of the Sunshine Act because the discussions did not determine or result in the joint conduct or disposition of official agency business.

## Legal Principles

- When Congress provides an exclusive statutory route for judicial review of agency action (including final orders), litigants may not use district-court suits to mount collateral challenges to that action.
- Under the Sunshine Act, the presence of a quorum is not enough; the gathering must involve deliberations that determine or result in the joint conduct or disposition of official agency business.
- Informational, exploratory, or policy discussions that do not culminate in agency decision-making or official action are outside the Sunshine Act’s open-meeting mandate, even if attended by multiple agency members.

## Conclusion

The Court held that challenges functionally seeking review of a final FCC order must proceed through the Communications Act’s exclusive court-of-appeals review scheme, and that the Sunshine Act did not require public access to the FCC’s participation in the Consultative Process because those conferences did not involve deliberations that determined or disposed of official agency business.


FCC v. ITT World Commc’ns, Inc., 466 U.S. 463 (1984)