A challenge to the Postal Service’s authority to set market-dominant mail prices above the rate of inflation won’t get a hearing from the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition from the National Postal Policy Council to review a federal appeal’s court ruling on the matter.
A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last November found the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) struck a careful balance when it allowed USPS to set mail rates higher than the pace of inflation.
Steve Kearney, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said it is “disappointing that the unnecessary and harmful above-inflation rate increase authority will continue.”
The PRC, however, is reexamining its decision to grant greater pricing flexibility to USPS. As part of this review, the commission is gathering public feedback for a congressionally mandated study on postal rates, and will accept comments through July 31.