Alaska Central Express Inc. v. United States

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiffs Evergreen International Airlines, Inc. and Alaska Central Express, Inc. challenge the constitutionality of the Rural Service Improvement Act of 2002 (“the Act”), which amended 39 U.S.C. § 5402 , the statute governing the eligibility of air carriers to transport mail within Alaska. See 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States, Pub.L. No. 107-206, § 3002 , 116 Stat. 820 , 910 (2002). Specifically, they argue that definitions embodied within the Act unconstitutionally preclude them from carrying mainline nonpriority bypass mail in Alaska. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

We will uphold “a statutory classification that neither proceeds along suspect lines nor infringes fundamental constitutional rights ... against equal protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification.” Fed. Communications Comm’n v. Beach Communications, 508 U.S. 307, 313 , 113 S.Ct. 2096 , 124 L.Ed.2d 211 (1993). The explanations set forth by Congress, the government, and the district court are sufficient…