All-GOP Judicial Panel Picked to Hear FCC Net Neutrality Case

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2024 – The judges named Tuesday to hear the challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's Net Neutrality rules were all appointed by Republican presidents.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit posted the names of the judges, who were randomly selected, on the court's website early Tuesday ahead of oral arguments on Oct. 31, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. ET in Cincinnati.

The judges named were Richard Allen Griffin, Raymond M. Kethledge, and John K. Bush. Griffin was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005, Kethledge by Bush in 2008, and Bush by President Donald J. Trump in 2017.

Of the three judges, Kethledge, a former clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, is probably the best known. In the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump included Kethledge on the list of judges from which he would select the successor to late Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump picked Neil Gorsuch in the end.

The FCC's rules, adopted in April, have not taken effect. A different Sixth Circuit panel blocked them on Aug. 1. That panel included two judges appointed by Democrats (including one by President Joe Biden) and one by a Republican.

In a speech Thursday, New Street Research analyst Blair Levin said it was "highly likely" the FCC would lose the Net Neutrality case and thus its authority to impose various conduct-based restrictions on broadband ISPs.

Statistically, it seemed unlikely the Net Neutrality panel would be composed exclusively of GOP appointees.

The Sixth Circuit has 30 judges – 20 Republicans and 10 Democrats. However, six Republicans and one Democrat have taken senior status, leaving the court with 23 active judges, including 14 Republicans and nine Democrats.