Digital TV law could face court challenge
February 11th, 2006The Senate passed a resolution Wednesday intended to fix the technical error that found its way into the budget bill. The digital TV transition plan, which involves spectrum auctions and consumer subsidies, is part of the budget that the president signed into law this week—or did he?
Despite the corrective resolution, the measure could face court challenges:
The issue is arcane and technical, but the broader constitutional question is very simple. As anyone who passed high school civics knows, a bill can only become a law if the House and Senate pass it in identical form. That didn’t happen in this case.
“That bill…is actually not a properly enacted law,” said Michael Gerhardt, a professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. “It wouldn’t surprise me if a court struck it down. That bill was not approved by the House.”
• Link: Houston Chronicle