1302
Opinion in Chambers
require cable operators to reserve a portion of their channel capacity for carrying local commercial and noncommercial educational broadcast stations. Applicants, cable operators and programmers, contend that these "must-carry" provisions violate the First Amendment because (1) they tell cable operators what speakers they must carry, thereby controlling the content of the operator's speech and shrinking the number of channels available for programming they might prefer to carry; (2) they inhibit the operators' editorial discretion to determine what programming messages to provide to subscribers; and (3) they give local broadcast "speakers" a preferred status. I herewith deny the application.
The 1992 Cable Act, like all Acts of Congress, is presumptively constitutional. As such, it "should remain in effect pending a final decision on the merits by this Court." Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 429 U. S. 1347, 1348 (1977) (Rehnquist, J., in chambers). Moreover, the Act was upheld by the three-judge District Court, and even the dissenting judge rejected the argument now urged by applicants—that Congress may not compel cable operators to carry the video signals of programmers they would otherwise choose not to carry. 819 F. Supp. 32, 61 (D. C. 1993). Unlike applicants, therefore, all three judges below would recognize that the Government may regulate cable television as a medium of communication. Ibid.
Equally important is the fact that applicants are not merely seeking a stay of a lower court's order, but an injunction against the enforcement of a presumptively valid Act of Congress. Unlike a stay, which temporarily suspends "judicial alteration of the status quo," an injunction "grants judicial intervention that has been withheld by the lower courts." Ohio Citizens For Responsible Energy, Inc. v. NRC, 479 U. S. 1312, 1313 (1986) (Scalia, J., in chambers). By seeking an injunction, applicants request that I issue an order altering the legal status quo. Not surprisingly, they do not cite any case in which such extraordinary relief has
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