Suing US would be “enormously” difficult
Goodman said that once California accepts the money, the state attorney general would only be able to challenge the Trump administration’s requirements in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The DC Circuit court “can really only review that decision for basically fraud or corruption, which is a really high bar to prove,” he said.
Goodman said that if California takes legal action before finalizing the agreement with the Trump administration, it could sue the US in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Right now, the California AG could sue saying, ‘Hey, these general terms… are illegal. You can’t require us to do that.’ [The state] could sue here in California and the Ninth Circuit has a sort of favorable view of that claim, so [the state would have a] pretty good view of success,” Goodman said.
In the DC Circuit, “it’s a much, much harder push,” he said. “Not impossible, but enormously more difficult.” He said the CPUC has a deadline at the end of this month to sign the agreement with the NTIA, but the state “can get a 30-day extension and then challenge the case in court.”
On the other side of the country, New York may have to stop enforcing an affordable broadband law that requires ISPs to offer $15- or $20-per-month service to people with low incomes. New York defended the law in court against broadband industry lobby groups and won that battle less than two years ago but has agreed to take $664.6 million of BEAD money from the Trump administration.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in an April 2026 press release that closing the digital divide requires bringing broadband to every household in the state and ensuring “that it remains affordable when it gets there. New York is showing the rest of the nation that both are possible through its landmark Affordable Broadband Act and commitment to reaching the final 1 percent of unserved or underserved households.”
But with New York having accepted the BEAD funding, it may be unable to enforce the Affordable Broadband Act on ISPs that receive grants. We contacted the offices of Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James yesterday and will update this article if we get a response.
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