Federal Court Strikes Biden’s Net Neutrality Rules On The Way Out The Door

An appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s latest net neutrality rules that allowed internet service providers to arbitrarily restrict internet access for certain customers and services.

The ruling is the latest twist in a decade-long battle in Washington over the FCC’s ability to regulate telecommunications companies. This is also the executive branch’s 2024 Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Thanks to the Raimondo decision, it is a sign of the diminishing power to interpret the laws they apply. The case overturned earlier court precedent known as Chevron deference, which gave agencies latitude to interpret vague statutes.

In 2015, under former President Barack Obama, the FCC passed rules that classify broadband Internet providers as telecommunications services and prohibit them from arbitrarily blocking and throttling Internet users or favoring websites that pay for preferential treatment.

In 2018, the FCC repealed these net neutrality rules during the first administration of Donald Trump. Then in 2024, the FCC under Joe Biden voted to reinstate them.

A coalition of telecommunications industry groups sued to block the rules again, leading to a recent ruling by the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

A jury of three he wrote For the first 15 years after Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the FCC controlled the Internet with a “light touch” and classified Internet service providers as “information services,” limiting the agency’s ability to regulate them.

That changed in 2015 when the agency interpreted internet service providers as telecommunications services, a different category under the 1996 law that allowed for stricter regulations.

In a number of previous cases challenging net neutrality rules, federal courts have upheld the FCC’s decision to classify Internet service providers as telecommunications services, including the Supreme Court’s 1984 Chevron USA Inc. and Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. Agencies empowered to interpret ambiguities in laws enacted by Congress.

But now that the current Supreme Court has struck down the so-called Chevron mandate, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to decide how to classify internet service providers.

In response to the ruling, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel called on Congress to take action.

“Consumers across the country have told us over and over again that they want fast, open and fair internet,” he said. “With this decision, it’s clear that Congress must now heed their call, take responsibility for net neutrality, and enshrine open internet principles in federal law.”