FCC Asks Ninth Circuit Again to Dismiss DJI’s Covered List Challenge

The fight over DJI’s spot on the FCC Covered List is still a fight about where and when, not yet about the merits. On October 16, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission and the United States filed a renewed motion asking the Ninth Circuit to dismiss DJI’s court challenge (SZ DJI Technology Co. v. FCC, No. 26-1029) as premature. The government’s argument is simple: DJI is still asking the FCC itself to reconsider, so a court has nothing final to review yet.

Quick refresher: how DJI got here

On December 21, 2025, an interagency national security body convened by the White House concluded that foreign-produced drones and critical drone components pose an unacceptable risk. The next day, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issued Public Notice DA 25-1086 adding those items—plus DJI and Autel equipment named in Section 1709 of the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act—to the Covered List. Equipment on that list can’t receive new FCC equipment authorizations.

DJI then took two roads at once:

• January 21, 2026: a petition for reconsideration at the FCC (OET Docket 26-22)
• February 20, 2026: a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit

What the government argued on October 16

The renewed motion makes two core points:

• Nothing final to review. Under the Hobbs Act, courts review only final FCC orders. A pending reconsideration request, the government says, keeps the Public Notice nonfinal.
• Staff action needs full-Commission review first. Because a bureau issued the notice on delegated authority, the Communications Act requires the full Commission to act before a court can step in.

What’s new is the ammunition. The filing leans on two recent Supreme Court orders in an unrelated FCC case—a September 4 stay and an October 14 stay in the Brown litigation—both of which signaled that a party must wait for the Commission to rule before heading to court. The government asks the Ninth Circuit to decide the motion as soon as possible after November 2.

Where the calendar stands

• May 28, 2026: The Ninth Circuit denied the government’s first motion to dismiss without prejudice and granted DJI’s request to hold the case until November.
• November 2, 2026: DJI’s opening brief is due. According to the motion, DJI opposes dismissal and plans to seek more time to respond, through November 2; the government doesn’t object.
• December 2, 2026: The government’s answering brief is due under the current schedule.

Meanwhile, the FCC record keeps growing

The motion offers a useful snapshot of DJI’s reconsideration docket. The FCC received four oppositions, a DJI reply and more than 1,800 other public submissions. After DJI filed a security assessment of two of its drone systems, the Commission reopened comments through August 28 and drew 150-plus more filings. On October 14, it entered a Department of War report into the record (we covered those letters last week), and the same day received a letter from Sen. Rick Scott objecting to DJI’s arguments. The filing says the Commission “is now actively analyzing this record.”

Translation: the next real move is more likely to come from the FCC than from the court.

What this means for drone pilots

• Nothing changes today. This is a procedural filing. It doesn’t alter the Covered List, and it doesn’t ground drones you already own.
• Don’t bank on a quick court rescue. If the Ninth Circuit agrees the case is premature, DJI’s path runs back through the FCC, and the Supreme Court has said the Commission isn’t bound to a specific timeframe.
• Watch the FCC docket, not just the courtroom. A ruling on DJI’s reconsideration petition would be the trigger for any real judicial review.
• Plan fleets with redundancy. If your business depends on new DJI models reaching the U.S., keep a non-Covered-List option in your planning while this drags on.

Whatever aircraft you end up flying, the operating rules don’t change. If you’re building your commercial foundation now, our Part 107 course covers the regulations that apply no matter whose logo is on the airframe.

The bottom line

The government wants DJI’s Ninth Circuit case tossed before merits briefing gets underway, arguing that DJI can’t litigate in court while its own reconsideration request is still pending at the FCC. DJI opposes. For U.S. pilots, the Covered List status quo holds—and the decision that matters most is still sitting at the Commission.

Sources: Respondents’ Renewed Motion to Dismiss, No. 26-1029 (9th Cir. Oct. 16, 2026); CourtListener docket; FCC Covered List; Communications Daily

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