Cite as: 525 U. S. 366 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
cally separated," the court vacated Rule 315(b) for requiring access to the incumbent LECs' network elements "on a bundled rather than an unbundled basis." Ibid.
Finally, incumbent LECs objected to the Commission's "pick and choose" rule, which governs the terms of agreements between LECs and competing carriers. Under this rule, a carrier may demand that the LEC make available to it "any individual interconnection, service, or network element arrangement" on the same terms and conditions the LEC has given anyone else in an agreement approved under § 252— without its having to accept the other provisions of the agreement. 47 CFR § 51.809 (1997); First Report & Order
¶¶ 1309-1310. The Court of Appeals vacated the rule, reasoning that it would deter the "voluntarily negotiated interconnection agreements" that the 1996 Act favored, by making incumbent LECs reluctant to grant quids for quos, so to speak, for fear that they would have to grant others the same quids without receiving quos. 120 F. 3d, at 801.
The Commission, MCI, and AT&T petitioned for review of the Eighth Circuit's holdings regarding jurisdiction, Rule 315(b), and the "pick and choose" rule; the incumbent LECs cross-petitioned for review of the Eighth Circuit's treatment of the other unbundling issues. We granted all the petitions. 522 U. S. 1089 (1998).
II
Section 201(b), a 1938 amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, provides that "[t]he Commission may prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary in the public interest to carry out the provisions of this Act." 52 Stat. 588, 47 U. S. C. § 201(b). Since Congress expressly directed that the 1996 Act, along with its local-competition provisions, be inserted into the Communications Act of 1934, 1996 Act, § 1(b), 110 Stat. 56, the Commission's rulemaking authority
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