Hundt, Others To Defend Net Neutrality Order Under First Amendment

Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and others plan to back the agency's net neutrality order in court. Hundt will be joined by other former commissioners and current communications scholars in defending the commission's order on First Amendment grounds, said a notice submitted Wednesday of their intent to file an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is reviewing the case (USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063). The notice said the brief would respond to arguments raised by certain petitioners and other amici that the FCC violated free-speech rights in its order, which also reclassified broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act. It also said their brief wouldn't likely be duplicated by other amicus briefs.