Court Denies Verizon Request for ‘Comcast’ Panel to Hear Net Neutrality Challenge
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Verizon’s request that the panel of judges who heard the Comcast case and ruled in April against the commission be assigned to its challenge of the FCC’s net neutrality order. The court has yet to rule on a motion asking the court to accept the case. Other challenges to the order, approved 3-2 in December, are considered likely, including from net neutrality supporters who want tougher rules.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The Wednesday order doesn’t explain the court’s reasoning. The action eliminated the need for the FCC to respond to Verizon’s request against a deadline Wednesday. The court must still decide whether it agrees with the carrier that because the rules affect spectrum licenses, the circuit is the proper venue for the case. Verizon didn’t comment by our deadline. The Comcast panel is viewed by most observers as less sympathetic to the FCC’s position than judges in other federal circuits may be.
"We're pleased with the Court’s swift action and look forward to the dismissal of the other part of Verizon’s request,” Public Knowledge said. Andrew Schwartzman, senior vice president of the Media Access Project, said “people generally read too much into actions such as this. It doesn’t signal sympathy for one side or the other."
Two longtime telecom industry lawyers said they weren’t surprised that the court turned down Verizon’s motion. “The D.C. Circuit has been sensitive to people who want to panel shop in these kind of recurrent cases,” one of the attorneys said. “Over the last few years we've seen them tightening down and doing more random assignments.” Verizon must have known that the odds were against the court granting the motion, a second lawyer said: “You can’t blame them for asking.”
The net neutrality order faces a number of challenges, Stifel Nicolaus said in a research note. “While Hill Republicans seek to throttle the FCC rules through legislation, they face hurdles in the Senate and a veto obstacle in the White House,” the firm said. “However, Verizon and others have a decent chance in their court challenges, with the venue a key initial battle.”