Peter Keisler. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
The four lawyers set to argue Thursday in the blockbuster AT&T antitrust case in Washington bring decades of appellate experience and long ties to some of the country's biggest law firms.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear the U.S. Justice Department's appeal for at least one hour, and the court has picked its ceremonial courtroom—featuring marble statues of historical and Biblical figures—as the venue. The room will hold hundreds of expected observers. Get in line early.
"Only individuals who actually plan to attend the argument will be allowed to line up inside the courthouse for the arguments. 'Line standers' are not permitted. No one will be allowed to hold spaces for other individuals," the D.C. Circuit said in an advisory this week.
The six-week AT&T trial in front of U.S. District Judge Richard Leon generated thousands of transcript pages—and a 172-page opinion in June. Leon, employing his characteristic penchant for exclamation points, resoundingly rejected the government's claim that AT&T's merger with Time Warner would harm consumers.
Here's a snapshot of the four lawyers who will make their arguments Thursday in front of D.C. Circuit judges Judith Rogers, Robert Wilkins and David Sentelle. AT&T's lawyer will get 30 minutes, which will be shared with an amicus party. The government was allotted 20 minutes. Another friend-of-the-court, supporting neither side, was granted 10 minutes.
➤➤ Arguing for AT&T: Peter Keisler. The Sidley Austin appellate veteran, who served as acting attorney general under the George W. Bush administration, has long stood as a go-to lawyer for companies challenging government actions on appeal. Co-leader of the firm's Supreme Court practice, Keisler was a regular presence in court during AT&T’s antitrust trial and will be a familiar face before the D.C. Circuit on Thursday. He argued against the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules and the Obama administration’s decision to prevent the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Bush picked Keisler for a D.C. Circuit seat, but the nomination was scuttled by a Senate filibuster.
"The Department of Justice’s suit to block the transaction was the United States’ first litigated challenge to a vertical merger in four decades," AT&T's lawyers wrote in their brief. Other Sidley Austin lawyers working with Keisler on the appeal include Joseph Guerra; co-leader of the firm's Supreme Court team; Jonathan Nuechterlein and C. Frederick Beckner III, co-leaders of the firm's communications regulatory practice; Richard Klinger; and Kathleen Mueller. AT&T also retained O'Melveny & Myers. O'Melveny partner Daniel Petrocelli in Los Angeles was lead trial counsel for AT&T. Read the AT&T D.C. Circuit brief here.
➤➤ For the Justice Department:Michael Murray. Murray, a top lawyer in the front office of the Antitrust Division—now led by Makan Delrahim—made his D.C. Circuit argument debut in September, defending the IRS against a suit seeking President Trump's tax records. The AT&T argument will be his third in the D.C. Circuit. Murray, who oversees the appellate team in the antitrust division, has argued in five appeals courts overall. He joined the antitrust division just a few months ago from the office of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, where he had been serving as counsel and associate deputy attorney general. Murray joined the Justice Department last year from Jones Day, where he was an associate. "Mike has significant appellate experience, including as a law clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy," Delrahim said in remarks last month.
Murray wasn't on the opening brief the Justice Department filed in the D.C. Circuit in August. The brief was signed by Mary Helen Wimberly, a former Hogan Lovells appellate lawyer who joined the Justice Department last year. "The outcome of this appeal will shape the future of the media and telecommunications industries for years to come by setting the standard for determining whether industry participants will be permitted to merge into vertically integrated firms that control valuable programming content as well as the means of distributing that content to consumers,” Justice Department lawyers wrote. Read the brief.