In a 26-page decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned the FCC’s 2024 Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Order, finding that broadband ISPs’ role in providing users with the ability to retrieve, store, and utilise information better fits the statutory definition of an “information service”.
The court further ruled that mobile broadband does not qualify as a “commercial mobile service” interconnected with the public switched telephone network, exempting it from net neutrality regulations.
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“The policy of the US is ‘to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation,’” circuit judges Richard Griffin, Raymond Kethledge, and John K. Bush wrote in the order. “It would be strange for Congress to enact this policy while, in the same bill, shackling Internet access providers with onerous Title II regulation.”
The FCC under outgoing chair Jessica Rosenworcel has sought to reinstate net neutrality rules that were rescinded during the Trump administration. The rules classed broadband services under public utility rules, which barred ISPs from blocking websites or charging more for faster access to services.
The FCC passed the revised net neutrality rules last April, only for the Sixth Circuit to stay the provision in August 2024 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s quashing of the ‘Chevron deference’ months earlier in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which gave federal agencies sweeping powers to interpret laws and how best to apply them.
Referencing Chevron in its latest ruling, the Sixth Circuit judges said its elimination required the court to independently interpret the net neutrality statute rather than defer to the FCC.
“Loper Bright ended Chevron’s mandated deference to an agency’s statutory interpretation upon a finding of ambiguity,” the judges wrote. “In overruling Chevron, the court found such a view of implicit delegation inconsistent with the Administrative Procedure Act’s command that courts “decide all relevant questions of law and interpret statutory provisions.’”
In a statement reacting to the Sixth Circuit’s ruling, FCC chair Rosenworcel said: “Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair.
“With this decision, it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.”
Incoming FCC chair Brendan Carr described the ruling in a statement as “a good win for the country”.
“I am pleased that the appellate court invalidated President Biden’s Internet power grab by striking down these unlawful Title II regulations.
“The work to unwind the Biden Administration’s regulatory overreach will continue. I welcome the chance to advance a policy agenda that will deliver great results for the American people.”
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