The decision out of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals hands FCC Democrats and Biden administration officials a major blow following their fierce push for revived open internet measures.
The ruling overturns last year’s FCC vote, which reinstated the net neutrality rules barring broadband providers from blocking or throttling internet traffic to some websites and speeding up access to others that pay extra fees.
The three-judge panel pointed to a Supreme Court decision last June that scaled back executive agencies’ power by overturning Chevron deference, the legal doctrine that previously instructed judges to defer to agencies in cases where the law is ambiguous.
In upending the decision, judges are now expected to substitute their own best interpretation of the law instead of deferring to the agencies.
Judge Richard Allen Griffin, writing for himself and Judge John K. Bush, wrote broadband must be considered an “information service,” not a “telecommunications service” as the FCC said in its order last year.
The net neutrality rules were first approved in 2015 under former President Obama but repealed under President-elect Trump’s first term in 2017. The commission voted along partisan lines last April to restore the rules under the leadership of Democratic FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel.
Rosenworcel on Thursday urged Congress to take action in response to the ruling.
Read her comments and more at TheHill.com.
