Total neutrality may hit your last roadblock. In a new ruling filed today, the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC lacks “statutory authority” to enforce net neutrality laws. The court first blocked these laws in August 2024 when the lawsuit at the center of today’s decision was filed.
Net neutrality aims to prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from giving preferential treatment to certain users or content. That prevents things like a service provider charging a streaming service for faster speeds, or a particular website being scrambled. Every application, website, and user should be treated equally under net neutrality, making the rules consistent with a free, fair and open internet.
Since net neutrality rules were first introduced in 2015, the FCC’s argument has been that its classification of ISPs as “telecommunications services” under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 gives it broad authority to regulate them. The decision to redefine ISPs as “information services” during the first Trump Administration led to the repeal of net neutrality in 2017.
The current FCC voted to restore net neutrality on April 25 of this year, but the difference between 2015 and now is the Supreme Court’s recent, powerful reinterpretation of an important legal doctrine. In June 2024, the Supreme Court issued two decisions dismissing the case Chevron doctrine, which states that if Congress does not act on an issue, the courts must overrule the interpretation of federal agencies. Now, interpretation falls to individual judges, and the Sixth Circuit disagrees with the FCC’s argument.
Net neutrality laws will remain in California and other states, but anything at the federal level will require either Congressional action or this case going to (and winning in front of) the Supreme Court. Engadget has reached out to the FCC to see if it plans to file a complaint and will update this article when asked.
“Consumers across the country have told us repeatedly that they want a fast, open, and fair Internet,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement following the ruling. “With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed its calling, take charge of net neutrality, and put open internet policies into federal law.”
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