Judges Picked to Hear Net Neutrality Challenge

The three-judge panel has been picked to hear the appeal of Mozilla et al. to the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality deregulation. According to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the Feb 1 oral argument in the Mozilla appeal will be heard by Judges Judith Rogers, Patricia Millett, and Stephen Williams.

Judge Rogers was on the 2014 panel that unanimously rejected the FCC's imposition of common carrier-like net neutrality regulations because the FCC had tried to do it under Title I. However, that 2014 decision also said that while the FCC had not justified making ISPs adhere to common-carrier regulations imposed on phone companies, it gave the agency a chance to try again with the suggestion it had good reason for trying and legal avenues--Title II--for succeeding. Judge Williams, back in May 2017, was one of three judges who denied a petition by ISPs and others for en banc (full court) review of the earlier three-judge panel decision that the FCC had reasonably defended its decision to reclassify ISPs as common carriers in the 2015 Open Internet order. There is an outside chance the argument scheduling could be disrupted if the government shutdown continues.