Today, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear a challenge to the D.C. Circuit's 2016 decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules. The Supreme Court also declined to vacate the D.C. Circuit's decision as moot.
The following can be attributed to John Bergmayer, Senior Counsel at Public Knowledge:
“This is good news for net neutrality supporters. The D.C. Circuit's previous decision upholding both the FCC's classification of broadband as a telecommunications service, and its rules prohibiting broadband providers from blocking or degrading internet content, remains in place.
“While the current FCC has repealed those rules — a decision Public Knowledge is currently challenging in court — this means that the previous decision is binding on the current FCC, and on the D.C. Circuit panel that hears the current challenge. Much of the current FCC’s argument depends on ignoring or contradicting the D.C. Circuit’s earlier findings, but now that these are firmly established as binding law, the Pai FCC’s case is on even weaker ground than before.”
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