Chairman Wheeler: Stay of Title II Rules Is High Hurdle

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler says he thinks the network neutrality/Title II order should stand up in court, and that he doesn't see a court staying the rules in advance of ruling on the underlying court challenges that have already been threatened by Internet service providers unhappy with being classified as common carriers.

In a press conference following the Feb. 26 vote, Chairman Wheeler said he thought it would be hard for carriers to get a stay to "put off" the implementation of the rules. He pointed to the orders three, bright-line rules -- no blocking, throttling, or prioritized fast lanes. "They all said 'oh, we never intend to do that,' so, they are going to go into court and say, 'no, court, you need to stay this because we intend to block, we intend to throttle, we intend to have fast lanes.' So, I think a stay is a high hurdle.” As to whether Title II would hold up in an underlying challenge when it is adjudicated, Chairman Wheeler pointed out that in remanding the FCC's 2010 Open Internet order, the DC federal appeals court had signaled that Title II would be one way of repairing the legal justification of the rules.