Cite as: 525 U. S. 366 (1999)
Opinion of Breyer, J.
the Communications Act of 1934 itself, into which Congress inserted the provisions of the 1996 Act with which we are here concerned, comes equipped with a specific instruction that courts are not to "construe" the FCC's statutory grant of authority as
"giv[ing] the Commission jurisdiction with respect to . . . charges . . . for or in connection with intrastate communication." 47 U. S. C. § 152(b).
Thus, as Justice Thomas points out, ante, at 409, it is not surprising to find that this Court has interpreted the Communications Act as denying the FCC authority to determine local rate-related practices in the face of statutory language far more helpful to the FCC than anything present here. Louisiana Pub. Serv. Comm'n v. FCC, supra. That precedent requires a similar result here.
Louisiana raised a question almost identical to the one before us: Does a statute granting the FCC authority to set certain general rate-related rules (there, depreciation rules) also grant the FCC authority to set primarily local rate-related rules (i. e., local depreciation rules)? Writing for the Court, Justice Brennan stated that the basic "rule of statutory construction" contained in § 152(b) and just quoted above requires interpretations that favor the reservation of ratemaking authority to the States. Id., at 373. Hence, the statute did not permit the FCC to write depreciation rules that would apply to equipment insofar as it was used for local service. Ibid.
Consider the similarities between Louisiana and the present cases. The relevant rules of statutory construction— the general and explicit presumptions favoring retention of local authority—are the same. See id., at 369 (asking whether "Congress intended that federal regulation supersede state law" and citing Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., supra); 476 U. S., at 371-373 (relying on § 152(b)). The subject matter is highly similar—both cases involve the way in
421
Page: Index Previous 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007