Summary
Religious broadcasters are challenging government officials for discriminating against their speech by charging them exponentially higher rates to stream music online than secular National Public Radio broadcasters.
Case Timeline
- October 2021: The CRB formally adopted royalty rates for calendar years 2021 through 2025 that require noncommercial religious webcasters with more than 218 average listeners to pay over 18 times the secular NPR-webcaster rate.
- July 2023: The D.C. Circuit Court ignored the CRB’s religious discrimination, failed to correctly apply multiple statutes, and affirmed the rate structure.
- February 2024: ADF attorneys, along with attorneys from Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
- June 2024: The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, allowing the lower courts’ rulings to stand.
