Jose wrote:
Nope. ATC does not overide the FAR's.


The FAR's what? (you probably meant plural, not posessive)

My statement doesn't require ATC to "override" the FARs. Rather, ATC's
authority to grant permission to fly at higher speed (in the case in
question) is explicitly written =into= the FARs. At least the way I
read them. I'm looking at 91.117(b), and the words "by ATC".

Jose

You are correct. "Unless authorize by ATC" is authority from the
Administrator for ATC to supercede whatever the relevant FAR says.

When it says "Unless otherwise authorized by the Adminstrator" then ATC
is out of the picture.