In the Supreme Court of the United States
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No. 00-447 In the Supreme Court of the United States NEXTWAVE PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS INC., ET AL., PETITIONERS v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT BRIEF FOR THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION IN OPPOSITION SETH P. WAXMAN Solicitor General Counsel of Record DAVID W. OGDEN Assistant Attorney General JACOB M. LEWIS Attorney Department of Justice Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 (202) 514-2217 QUESTION PRESENTED Whether the bankruptcy court had the authority to enjoin the automatic cancellation of 63 wireless telecommunications licenses by the FCC due to the winning bidder’s failure to timely pay the winning bid amount. (I) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Opinions below ............................................................................... 1 Jurisdiction ...................................................................................... 1 Statement ........................................................................................ 2 Argument ........................................................................................ 11 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 30 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases: Atlantic Bus. & Community Dev. Corp., In re, 994 F.2d 1069 (3d Cir. 1993) ................................................. 22 Board of Governors v. MCorp Fin., Inc., 502 U.S. 32 (1991) .................................................................................... 16, 17 Brock v. Morysville Body Works, Inc., 829 F.2d 383 (3d Cir. 1987) .......................................................................... 18 Central Ark. Broad. Co., In re, 68 F.3d 213 (8th Cir. 1995) ......................................................................................... 22 Continental Air Lines, Inc., In re, 780 F.2d 1223 (5th Cir. 1986) ......................................................................... 28 FCC v. Pottsville Broad. Co., 309 U.S. 134 (1940) ........................................................................................ 12 FCC v. Sanders Bros. Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470 (1940) ........................................................................................ 21 FCC v. WOKO, Inc., 329 U.S. 223 (1946) .......................... 12 Federal Power Comm’n v. Idaho Power Co., 344 U.S. 17 (1952) ................................................................... 19 Gruntz, In re, 202 F.3d 1074 (9th Cir. 2000) ....................... 19 Gull Air, Inc., In re, 890 F.2d 1255 (1st Cir. 1989) ............ 20, 23, 25 Johnson v. Edinboro State Coll., 728 F.2d 163 (3d Cir. 1984) .......................................................................... 27 Lavigne, In re, 114 F.3d 379 (2d Cir. 1997) ......................... 28 Manges, In re, 29 F.3d 1034 (5th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1152 (1995) ................................................ 28 (III) IV Cases—Continued: Page Moody v. Amoco Oil Co., 734 F.2d 1200 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 982 (1984) ......................................... 20 Mountain Solutions, Ltd. v. FCC, 197 F.3d 512 (D.C. Cir. 1999) ............................................................. 14-15, 27 NextWave Personal Communications, Inc. v. FCC, No. 99-1980 (Oct. 10, 2000) ........................................... 8, 11, 30 NextWave Personal Communications, Inc. v. FCC, Nos. 00-1045, 00-1046 (D.C. Cir. June 22, 2000) ........... 11, 17 NextWave Personal Communications, Inc. v. FCC, Nos. 00-1402, 00-1403 (D.C. Cir.) ........................................ 11 NextWave Telecom Inc. v. FCC, No. 98-1255, 1998 WL 389116 (D.C. Cir. June 11, 1998) ........................ 6 Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637 (1971) ............................. 27 Quality Tooling, Inc. v. United States, 47 F.3d 1569 (Fed. Cir. 1995) ............................................................. 18 Red Lion Broad. Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367 (1969) ........................................................................................ 21 Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc. v. FCC, 316 U.S. 4 (1942) ........................................................................................ 12 Tak Communications, Inc., In re, 985 F.2d 916 (7th Cir. 1993) ......................................................................... 22 Thinking Machs. Corp. v. Mellon Fin. Servs. Corp. # 1, 67 F.3d 1021 (1st Cir. 1995) .................................................. 14 Town & Country Home Nursing Servs., Inc., In re, 963 F.2d 1146 (9th Cir. 1991) ............................................... 18 United States v. GWI PCS 1 Inc., No. 99-11294, 2000 WL 1528690 (5th Cir. Oct. 20, 2000) ............ 17, 18, 28, 29, 30 United States v. Southwestern Cable Co., 392 U.S. 157 (1968) ................................................................................. 12 United States, In re, No. 98-11123 (5th Cir. Oct. 7, 1998) ......................................................................................... 17 University Med. Ctr., In re, 973 F.2d 1065 (3d Cir. 1992) ......................................................................................... 18 V Statutes and regulations: Page Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.: 47U.S.C. 301 ............................................................ 2, 19, 21, 22 47U.S.C. 307(a) .................................................................... 2, 12 47 U.S.C. 309(a) .................................................................... 2, 12 47 U.S.C. 309(j ) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998) .............. 2, 3, 12, 21 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(1) ................................................................ 2, 12 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(3)(A) ............................................................ 15 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(3)(A)-(D) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998) .......... 2 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(3)(B) ............................................................ 4 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(3)(D) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998) ................. 15 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(4)(C) ............................................................ 4 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(4)(D) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998) ................. 4 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(6) .................................................................. 21 47 U.S.C. 402 ....................................................................... 17, 19 47 U.S.C. 402(a) ...................................................................... 10 47 U.S.C. 402(b) ...................................................................... 10 Hobbs Act, 28 U.S.C. 2342 .................................................. 10-11, 17, 19 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. 660 ................................................................................ 18 11 U.S.C. 106(a) .................................................................... 23, 24 11 U.S.C. 362 (1994 & Supp. IV 1998) .................................. 25 11 U.S.C. 362(a) ...................................................................... 9, 10 11 U.S.C. 362(b)(4) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998) .............. 10, 24, 25 11 U.S.C. 363 ............................................................................. 28 11 U.S.C. 363(b)(1) ................................................................... 28 11 U.S.C. 525 .................................................................. 25, 26, 27 11 U.S.C. 525(a) ............................................ 9, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 11 U.S.C. 544(b) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998) ............................. 6 28 U.S.C. 1334(b) ............................................. 16, 17, 18, 19, 29 28 U.S.C. 1334(e) ...................................................................... 21 47 C.F.R.: Section 1.2110 ......................................................................... 20 Section 1.2110(e)(4) (1996) .............................................. 3, 5, 13 Section 1.2110(e)(4)(iii) (1996) ........................................... 3, 20 Section 24.708(a) (1996) ....................................................... 3 VI Regulations—Continued: Page Section 24.709(a)(1) (1996) .................................................. 4 Section 24.711 ....................................................................... 20 Section 24.711(a)(2) .............................................................. 4, 5 Section 24.711(b) .................................................................. 4 Section 24.711(b)(3) .............................................................. 4 Miscellaneous: Amendment of Part 1 of the Commission’s Rules— Competitive Bidding Procedures, In re, FCC No. 00-274, 2000 WL 1140602 (Aug. 14, 2000) .................. 12 Amendment of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Installment Payment Financing for Personal Communications Services (PCS) Licensees, In re, 12 FCC Rcd 16,436 (1997) .................................................... 5 Amendment of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Installment Payment Financing for Personal Communications Service (PCS) Licensees, In re, 14 FCC Rcd 6571 (1999) ...................................................... 6 Application of Bill Welch, In re, 3 FCC Rcd 6502 (1988) ........................................................................................ 22 Applications of NextWave Personal Communications, Inc. for Various C-Block Broadband PCS Licenses, In re, 12 FCC Rcd 2030 (1997) ............................................ 4 FCC Public Notice, DA 00-2038 (Sept. 6, 2000) .................. 8 L. King, Collier on Bankruptcy (15th ed. 2000): Vol. 1 .......................................................................................