D.C. Memo: ISPs, FCC Await Sixth Circuit on Net Neutrality Stay, Case Transfer to D.C.
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Net Neutrality: The clock is ticking. The FCC’s Net Neutrality rules take effect on Monday, July 22. Broadband ISPs have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati to stay the rules by July 15, over the objections of the FCC. If the ISPs fail to get a stay, they would have time to seek a stay from Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who oversees the Sixth Circuit. Last week, ISP and FCC lawyers (supported by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society) staked out their positions in briefs sought by the court over a speedy five-day schedule that ended Friday. In their brief Friday urging a stay, the ISPs claimed the FCC has downplayed the full extent of the rules. “The FCC pretends that the [Net Neutrality Order] merely imposes uncontroversial open-Internet rules, emphasizing that it has forborne from some of Title II’s most eye-popping provisions,” the ISP said, referring to rate regulation. “That the FCC needs to forbear from so much of Title II to make its interpretation work is a sign that the FCC has the wrong interpretation.” FCC lawyers urged the court to let the rules take effect as scheduled. “The public interest weighs strongly in favor of allowing the rules to take effect to protect other participants in the Internet economy, including consumers and edge providers,” FCC lawyers told the court. The sides are at odds over the proper judicial venue. The FCC has asked for the case to be moved to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Washington, a request opposed by the ISPs.