N9OGL wrote:
The red light rules were thrown out due to fact that they violated due
process. K1MAN fine and FO will be thrown out because

Ok Tod, one at at time..

1. most of the
fine was based on the fining system in the broadcast service (see the
NAL) and therefore may of been to high of a fine in regards to the
amateur service.

Hmmm.. Seems that the $21K was reasonable considering the number and
nature of the rules violations. If you assume the violations are true,
what do you think the dollar amount should be?

2. Baxter's right to an Administrative hearing under
the Administrative Procedure Act was denied and therefore his rights to
due process under the APA was violated.

No, he requested a hearing before the FCC commissioners which was
improper at that point. Right now the proper place for due process here
is the Appeal process, which is supposed to be filed with the
appropriate court within 30 days of the Forfeiture Order. (Which has not
happened, to my knowledge.) It is not the FCC's fault if Baxter doesn't
know how to do the right thing to protect is rights.

3. the "trial de novo" that the
FCC is referring to is a trial in the district court. The FCC can take
Baxter to the District court to collect the fine, in the district court
Baxter can raise any challenges to any FCC rule or regulation, nor can
baxter raise any constitutional challenges, the trial de novo is a debt
collection trial.

You are indeed correct, except he can try to raise issues with the fine
and these issues would be admissible had he chosen to supply the
necessary information requested by the NAL, or if he managed to get the
appeal timely filed. The problem with your contention that this is not
fair is that you are ignoring the fact that Baxter has failed to protect
his own rights.

The rules are fair and published so everybody can know what they need to
do. It's not the fault of the FCC if Baxter fails to protect his own
rights even if he is ignorant of what the rules mean. If he doesn't want
to hire a lawyer to advise him, fine, but if he then complains that the
process doesn't match what he thinks is fair, too bad.

I'll bet that if he contacts the FCC right now and agrees to hand in his
license, swear off ham radio for life and agree to not use his Part 97
equipment for anything but receiving, they might be willing to forget
the fines...