## Facts

- Sangamon Valley Television Corp. sought to operate a VHF television station on Channel 2 in Springfield, Illinois.
- The FCC conducted a rulemaking to amend its Table of Television Channel Assignments.
- The FCC reassigned VHF Channel 2 from Springfield to St. Louis, Missouri, and Terre Haute, Indiana, while assigning UHF Channels 26 and 36 to Springfield.
- Sangamon challenged the reallocation as inconsistent with § 307(b) of the Communications Act, which requires a “fair, efficient, and equitable” distribution of radio service.
- The D.C. Circuit initially affirmed the FCC in a brief decision, finding the agency’s choice reasoned and not arbitrary or unlawful.
- After congressional testimony revealed that interested parties had made undisclosed ex parte presentations to FCC commissioners while the rulemaking was pending, the Supreme Court granted certiorari, vacated the D.C. Circuit’s judgment, and remanded for appropriate action.
- On remand, the D.C. Circuit reconsidered the validity of the FCC’s action in light of the ex parte contacts.

## Issues

1. Whether undisclosed ex parte communications by interested private parties to FCC commissioners during a pending rulemaking invalidated (“vitiated”) the FCC’s channel reallocation decision.
2. What remedy was required to address the effect of the ex parte contacts, including whether the allocation order had to be set aside and the proceeding reopened with a record inquiry into the contacts and any resulting disqualification concerns.

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit vacated the FCC’s channel-assignment order.
- The court held that private, off-the-record approaches to commissioners during the proceeding vitiated the Commission’s action and required reopening the matter.
- The case was remanded to the FCC with directions to conduct an evidentiary inquiry (through a specially appointed examiner) into the nature and scope of the ex parte approaches and any additional facts bearing on disqualification of commissioners or parties.

## Legal Principles

- Agency action must rest on a public record developed through the prescribed administrative process; undisclosed, off-the-record advocacy on the merits can invalidate the resulting order.
- Even in rulemaking, ex parte communications from interested persons to agency decisionmakers, when not disclosed and placed in the record, can compromise the fairness and legitimacy of the proceeding.
- When procedural irregularities may have influenced an agency’s decision, vacatur and remand for a record-based evidentiary inquiry is an appropriate remedy, including inquiry into potential disqualification.

## Conclusion

The D.C. Circuit set aside the FCC’s channel reallocation because undisclosed ex parte contacts with commissioners compromised the integrity of the rulemaking record, requiring reopening and an evidentiary inquiry before the allocation could be reconsidered through proper procedure.


Sangamon Valley Television Corp. v. United States, 269 F.2d 221 (D.C. Cir. 1959)