The U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined 10 associations representing broadband providers asking a federal appeals court not to move the Net Neutrality challenge to the D.C. Circuit.
ISPs sued the FCC in multiple venues earlier this month in an effort to prevent the reinstated Net Neutrality rules from taking effect on July 22. The case is now before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Commission wants it moved to the D.C. Circuit, which has previously been favorable to the agency on the issue, according to Broadband Breakfast.
The associations opposing the change of venue include: USTelecom, CTIA, WISPA, ACA Connects, and NCTA. Others are: Ohio Telecom Association, Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association, Florida Internet & Television Association, MCTA – The Missouri Internet & Television Association, and Texas Cable Association.
The Chamber is not part of the case, according to Broadband Breakfast. It filed a brief after the court’s deadline for responses to the transfer motion on Monday, because it’s generally opposed to federal agencies moving regulation cases to Washington. “Hoping to sustain an aggressive regulatory agenda, agencies are increasingly trying to transfer cases away from venues where people and businesses bear the brunt of these burdens and to a circuit that agencies think will be a more government friendly venue,” the Chamber wrote.
The associations say in their filing the FCC is asking for a transfer as part of “a concerted effort by federal agencies to steer administrative law cases” out of the regional courts. They also assert the Commission’s reasons for seeking a transfer are not warranted.
The FCC explained to the court the case should be moved to the Sixth Circuit because it constitutes “the latest phase of litigation over a series of interrelated FCC orders” concerning Net Neutrality that have been “closely reviewed” by this appeals court over the last 16 years. The agency says the ISP association’s arguments “never seriously grapple with the particular circumstances of this litigation and its long and entangled history with the D.C. Circuit.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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