Net Neutrality Oral Argument Shaping up As Epic Battle

The Feb. 1 oral argument in the legal challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's Restoring Internet Freedom order (the case is Mozilla Corp. V. FCC) is going to be an epic event, at least in terms of the time allotted for both sides to make their cases. It is the only case slated for argument that day. It will also be streamed live on the court Web site, as has been the case with oral arguments in the circuit since late 2018. The FCC and those challenging its Restoring Internet Freedom order teamed up to jointly ask the court for 75 minutes apiece (with rebuttal time included), divided among various attorneys arguing different issues. The court accepted the proposal and, if past is prologue, the argument will be even longer than those two and a half hours --j udges usually allow some flexibility in individual time allocations and push the time limits with their own questions. By contrast to that 150 minutes, most arguments are only scheduled for between 20 minutes and an hour.