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DOJ seeks Microsoft hearing
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February 7, 2002: 12:34 p.m. ET
Wants to discuss proposed settlement of antitrust suit in early March.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday asked for a one-day court hearing, to take place during the week of March 4, to approve the proposed settlement of its antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp.
The government also said it had received more than 30,000 comments from the public on its Web site about the settlement proposal, and about 15,000 comments opposed it. Only about 7,500 comments supported the settlement, while roughly 7,000 had no opinion about it, the government said.
In a document filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the department also argued against the necessity for a prolonged evidentiary hearing about the settlement.
"Once the Court has received the public comments, the United States' response to the comments and its brief, and Microsoft's brief, it will have a comprehensive and extraordinarily detailed record before it on which to determine whether the [settlement] is in the public interest and should be entered," the department's trial attorneys said in their filing.
They also said the department planned to post responses to the 30,000 public comments by Feb. 27. It and Microsoft also plan to review their settlement proposal and may make changes to it, but no later than Feb. 27, when Microsoft will submit a memorandum supporting it.
The Justice Department and nine of 18 states that filed the antitrust suit against Microsoft reached a tentative settlement agreement with Microsoft last November. Nine other state attorneys general continue to push for more severe restrictions on the company, and the judge hearing the case has yet to rule on the various proposals.
CNN/Money's Special Report: Microsoft on Trial
In June, a U.S. appeals court upheld findings in the Justice Department's case against Microsoft that the company illegally used its monopoly in personal computer operating systems to maintain its dominance.
However, it overturned an order to break the company in two, ordering a lower court judge to come up with an alternative remedy for the anticompetitive practices and reconsider some other issues, including whether Microsoft had acted illegally by bundling its IE Web browser to its Windows operating system software. 
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