Court case

Apple's exclusive market for selling iPhone apps came under fire at the Supreme Court, as justices considered whether consumers should be allowed to proceed with a lawsuit alleging the company has an illegal monopoly that produces higher prices. The plaintiffs are a group of consumers pursuing a class-action lawsuit seeking damages on behalf of people who have purchased iPhone apps. They argue that prices are higher than they would be in a competitive market because Apple requires that all software for its phones be sold and purchased through its App Store.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a California District Court ruling that Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios Networks (ESN) was not barred from suing Charter over its allegation the cable operator's decision not to carry his programming was racially motivated. The panel rejected Charter's motion to dismiss the suit and remanded it back to the US District Court for the Central District of California for further proceedings, which likely means a trial on its merits unless the parties settle.

CNN and the network’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta have asked a federal judge for an emergency hearing after the White House sent Acosta a letter saying it planned to suspend Acosta’s press pass again, just hours after the same judge ordered the White House to temporarily restore Acosta’s credentials Nov 16. Unless the judge extends that 14-day order, it will expire at the end of November.

Judge Timothy Kelly ruled in favor of CNN and reporter Jim Acosta in a dispute with President Donald Trump, ordering the White House to temporarily restore the press credentials that the Trump administration had taken away from Acosta. Judge Kelly granted CNN’s motion for a temporary restraining order that will prevent the administration from keeping Acosta off White House grounds. Judge Kelly ruled that Acosta’s First Amendment rights overruled the White House’s right to have orderly news conferences.

The Russian government is arguing that a federal court should dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee alleging that Moscow’s military spies, the Trump campaign, and the WikiLeaks organization conspired to disrupt the 2016 campaign and tilt the election to Donald Trump. In a letter and statement to the State Department and a judge in the Southern District of New York, Russia’s Ministry of Justice argued that the United States’ Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act protects the Russian government from such lawsuits.

Federal Communications Commission General Counsel Tom Johnson is set to rebut net neutrality advocates on Feb. 1 before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals — and he previewed the agency’s arguments during a Free State Foundation event Nov 9.

The activities of the past week have reshaped the future of network neutrality and the strategy for protecting that future. On Nov 5, the Supreme Court declined to review the decision of the DC Circuit Court that twice upheld the 2015 Open Internet Rule. The second development was the Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives. 

The US Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the DC Circuit's 2016 decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality rules. The Supreme Court also declined to vacate the DC Circuit's decision as moot. 

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear the broadband industry's challenge of the Federal Communications Commission's 2015 order to impose net neutrality rules and strictly regulate broadband.

TechFreedom published a comprehensive analysis of why state laws and executive orders attempting to replicate, or expand upon, the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 network neutrality rules will likely fail in court. Five key findings: