Two Democratic Judicial Appointees, One Republican to Hear Net Neutrality Case

Two Democratic appointees and one Republican were named to the three-judge panel to hear oral argument Dec. 4 on challenges to the FCC's net neutrality and broadband reclassification decision. An order Tuesday of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit identified the judges as David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan, both Democratic appointees, and Senior Judge Stephen Williams, a Republican appointee. Tatel has ruled both for and against the FCC in previous net neutrality cases. The order also set a format that appears to track the joint proposal submitted by most industry petitioners and the government respondents (see 1510230066). The court did not accept the proposal of Full Service Network to be included in the main discussion of the legality of the FCC's reclassification of broadband Internet access service under Title II of the Communications Act (see 1510260031). The case is USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063.