47 U.S.C. § 202
Section 202 · Discriminations and preferences
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 157 court decisions — leading case MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (1994)
Most recently applied in Todd Heath v. Wisconsin Bell, Inc. (January 2024)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (34 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 47 U.S.C. § 201 · 47 U.S.C. § 151 · 47 U.S.C. § 203
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment and consequential amendments — watch for a citation surge after a change. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
It shall be unlawful for any common carrier to make any unjust or unreasonable discrimination in charges, practices, classifications, regulations, facilities, or services for or in connection with like communication service, directly or indirectly, by any means or device, or to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, class of persons, or locality, or to subject any particular person, class of persons, or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage.
Charges or services, whenever referred to in this chapter, include charges for, or services in connection with, the use of common carrier lines of communication, whether derived from wire or radio facilities, in chain broadcasting or incidental to radio communication of any kind.
Any carrier who knowingly violates the provisions of this section shall forfeit to the United States the sum of $6,000 for each such offense and $300 for each and every day of the continuance of such offense.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1989—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101–239 substituted “$6,000” for “$500” and “$300” for “$25”.
1960—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 86–751 substituted “common carrier lines of communication, whether derived from wire or radio facilities,” for “wires”.