(credit: Jason Farrar)

Chairman Ajit Pai and fellow Republican Michael O’Rielly repeatedly opposed attempts to cap the phone rates charged to prisoners while Democrats held the FCC’s majority. Republicans argued that the FCC exceeded its authority and commission attempts to enforce rate caps have been stymied by a series of court decisions.

As a lawsuit filed by phone company Global Tel*Link heads for oral arguments on Monday in the DC Circuit US Court of Appeals, an FCC lawyer informed the court that the agency will no longer defend an intrastate calling cap. Since the FCC prison rate order was adopted by a 3-2 vote in October 2015, Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Chairman Tom Wheeler have left the commission, FCC Deputy General Counsel David Gossett noted in a brief filed yesterday.