US appeals court won't rehear net neutrality repeal case

A US appeals court announced that it won’t be rehearing a ruling handed down in October that largely upheld the repeal of net neutrality rules, rejecting requests by tech and advocacy groups as well as 15 US states. The full US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declined without comment to reconsider the decision, as did the three-judge panel that issued the ruling in October.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who had initially proposed the repeal, welcomed the decision. “The internet has remained free and open, consumers have been protected, speeds have increased, and more and more Americans have gotten access to broadband,” a spokeswoman for him told Reuters.

The FCC in December 2017 reversed Obama-era rules prohibiting internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or throttling traffic, with the decision taking effect in June 2018, quickly followed by court appeals. In October the District of Columbia Court of Appeals largely upheld the FCC’s repeal of the net neutrality laws but said the agency had overstepped its legal authority when it declared that states cannot pass their own net neutrality laws.

In December, the CCIA and a wide range of internet rights and industry groups asked for the rehearing, and were joined by states that had also challenged the decision, arguing that the appeal court’s ruling conflicted with court precedent and failed to address serious process failures by the FCC.