D.C. Memo: Court to Hear Net Neutrality Appeal on Halloween
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Net Neutrality: The next round in the Net Neutrality litigation will happen on Halloween. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati announced yesterday that it will hear oral arguments in the Net Neutrality case on Oct. 31, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. The arguments will be live streamed but audio only, according to Sixth Circuit Clerk Kelly Stephens. The court has not disclosed the name of the judge who will hear the case on the merits. "You may learn the names of the judges sitting on the panel by checking the Court's calendar when it is posted on www.ca6.uscourts.gov two weeks prior to argument," Stephens said in a notice to counsel. On April 25, the FCC voted along party lines to classify broadband ISPs as common carriers. ISPs immediately appealed after the rules were published in the Federal Register and sought a stay. On Aug. 1, a Sixth Circuit panel stayed the rules, saying the ISPs were "likely to succeed on the merits." The three-judge panel -- which included two appointed by Democratic presidents, including one by President Biden -- said it was likely that the FCC violated the Supreme Court's Major Questions Doctrine, which barred the agency from resolving issues of vast political and economic significance without clear authorization from Congress. The ISPs have said Congress never handed the FCC power to treat them as common carriers. "The Communications Act likely does not plainly authorize the [FCC] to resolve this signal question. Nowhere does Congress clearly grant the [FCC] the discretion to classify broadband providers as common carriers," the Sixth Circuit panel said. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who has repeatedly predicted victory in the courts, called the stay “a setback but we will not give up the fight for net neutrality.”
