SC story
No action from Supreme Court on Microsoft
By Joe Wilcox
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
September 8, 2000, 8:15 a.m. PT
WASHINGTON--The Supreme Court once again passed on whether it
will give fast-track consideration to a breakup of the world's largest
software company.
With its second pass on the case, the high court is not expected to take any
action on Microsoft's antitrust appeal before Oct. 2, according to a court
representative. The Supreme Court could have acted on Aug. 28 but chose not
to.
While the court has in rare instances issued
decisions before a scheduled date, legal experts
don't predict any action before October.
The question before the court is whether
Microsoft's case is significant enough to warrant
an expedited appeal rather than
going through the usual
process.
Microsoft wants the case to be
heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit, which it feels is a more
favorable venue.
In June, U.S. solicitor Seth Waxman, acting at the
behest of the Justice Department and 19 states, asked the high court to
accept the case on direct appeal, bypassing the local appeals court.
The law allowing such an appeal is known as the Expediting Act, which, since
a 1974 revision, authorizes such action only in cases of national importance.
The Justice Department, which in 26 years has only twice asked the Supreme
Court to take a direct appeal, contends the case is of "immense importance to
our national economy."
In June, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered that Microsoft
be broken into separate operating systems and software applications
companies after determining the company had violated U.S. antitrust law.
Jackson initially stayed--or put on hold--the breakup order pending the
outcome of the appeal and later extended that to restrictions on Microsoft's
business practices.
Many legal experts expect the Supreme Court will choose not to take the case
at this time. One main reason is the appeals court's expressed interest in the
case.
"With the Court of Appeals willing to hear the case en banc and potentially
only a four- or five-month delay in the process, the Supreme Court could be
inclined not to take the case at this time," said Bill Kovacic, an antitrust
professor at George Washington University School of Law.
If the high court takes the case, it would likely issue a decision by June 2001,
effectively ending the case. If the court passes the case back to the appellate
level, a decision there is not expected earlier than nine months--more likely a
year--before the Supreme Court gets another crack at the case. That would
delay a final decision until summer 2002.
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