Net neutrality is half-dead: Court strikes down FCC’s anti-blocking rules

Re:Net neutrality is half-dead: Court strikes down FCC’s ant... by declan on Tuesday January 14, 2014 @01:19PM (#7058673)

You're certainly right that the DC Circuit will get a disproportionate number of regulatory appeals, but we don't know whether that fact actually matters without knowing what percentage of their workload involves complex cases, and whether they need equal staffing numbers. (I don't know the answer.)

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Re:Net neutrality is half-dead: Court strikes down FCC’s ant... by rayiner on Tuesday January 14, 2014 @01:42PM (#7058835)

http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/caseman2.pdf/$file/... (Figure 4).

The D.C. Circuit has 10% criminal cases. 5 circuits have above 25% criminal cases. The D.C. Circuit has over 30% administrative cases, most circuits have under 10%. The D.C. Circuit has almost no private prisoner cases (cases by prisoners against state officials for violations of rights), while most circuits have over 15%. The D.C. Circuit has over 20% U.S. civil cases (civil cases in which the U.S. is a defendant), while most circuits have under 5%.

Even within those divisions there are relevant distinctions. An appeal from the Board of Immigration Appeals is an "administrative" case, but it's a much simpler matter to resolve, usually, than say a challenge to an EPA regulation. So while the 9th Circuit has almost 30% "administrative cases," each of those are likely much simpler to resolve than each administrative case on the D.C. Circuit's docket (not many people are getting deported from D.C.)

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