FCC Supports Keeping Title II Challenge in D.C. Circuit

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

The FCC has decided the court challenges to its decision to reclassify ISPs as common carriers under Title II should remain in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

In a filing with the Third Circuit Thursday (April 30), FCC lawyers asked that court to transfer a challenge from the Full Service Network to the D.C. Circuit.

The FCC could have sought a second lottery by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which decides on a circuit if challenges are filed in more than one, but has decided to stick with the D.C. Circuit.

Based on two early filings in separate circuits, the panel had already randomly chosen the D.C. Circuit.

"Because petitioners in this case seek review of the same FCC order that is being challenged in the cases pending before the D.C. Circuit, and because the Judicial Panel has designated the D.C. Circuit as the court in which the agency record is to be filed, this Court is statutorily required to transfer this case," the FCC said.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.