The United States Court of Appeals is challenging efforts to restore political neutrality

All that neutrality may have affected his last block. In a new decision was made todayThe US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC does not have “jurisdiction” to enforce net neutrality rules. First court canceled the rules in August 2024 where the case at the center of today’s decision was filed.

Net neutrality aims to prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from giving preferential treatment to users or content. This prevents things like a service provider from overcharging for a faster service, or a particular site going down. Every app, website, and user should be treated the same under net neutrality, making the rules consistent with a free, fair, and open internet.

Given the neutral rules was first launched in 2015the FCC’s argument has been that its classification of ISPs as “telecommunications services” under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 gives it too much power to regulate them. The decision to redefine ISPs as “information services” during the first Trump Administration resulted the repeal of net neutrality in 2017.

The current FCC voted restore neutrality on April 25 of this year, but the difference between 2015 and now is the recent Supreme Court, a deep interpretation of an important legal theory. In June 2024, the Supreme Court issued two judgments that rolling over Chevron theorya policy that states that if Congress does not review an issue, the courts should stop interpreting government agencies. Now, the interpretation falls to the individual judge, and the Sixth Circuit disagrees with the FCC’s arguments.

Neutral rules will remain California and other states, but anything within the federal government will require either Congress to appeal or the case to be appealed (and successful before) the Supreme Court. Engadget has reached out to the FCC to see if it plans to appeal and will update this story if we hear back.

“Consumers across the country are telling us time and time again that they want an Internet that’s fast, open and fair,” said FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. in a sentence following the decision. “With this decision it is clear that Congress must now heed their call, hold the net neutrality accountable, and enshrine open internet policy in federal law.”