Big Telecom Wants a DC Circuit Net Neutrality Review. Here’s Why That’s Unlikely

The nation’s largest cable and telecommunication industry trade groups on July 29 asked a federal court for a rare “en banc” review of June’s decision upholding US rules protecting network neutrality, the principle that all content on the Internet should be equally accessible to consumers. “The likelihood that the full DC Circuit would agree to rehear the case, much less reverse the panel’s decision, is extremely remote,” Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Senior Counselor at the Public Interest Communications Law Project at Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Public Representation, wrote in a recent article. “The DC Circuit typically agrees to rehear a case only a few times each year, at most, usually where there is a sharp split on an important issue on which other circuits have taken a different stance,” Schwartzman wrote. “This case doesn’t meet those criteria and thus starts out as a particularly poor candidate for rehearing.”

There is no fixed timeline for the DC Circuit to respond to the broadband industry’s petitions. Federal courts typically respond to en banc requests within a few weeks, but given the fact that August is a slow month for the federal bench, the court could wait until September or even October to respond, according to Schwartzman.