Sixth Circuit Rejects FCC’s Open Internet Order as Inconsistent with Statutory Text
This morning, in its second opinion of 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has concluded that the Federal Communications so-called “Open Internet Order,” a variant of what is often referred to as “net neutrality,” is unlawful. The three-judge panel, consisting of Judges Griffin, Kethledge, and Bush, concluded that the FCC’s regulation was inconsistent with the statutory text of the Telecommunications Act.
Here is how Judge Griffin’s opinion for the panel summarizes the case and its background:
As Congress has said, the Internet has “flourished, to the benefit of all Americans, with a minimum of government regulation.” 47 U.S.C. § 230(a)(4). The Federal Communications Commission largely followed this command from the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by regulating the Internet with a light touch for nearly 15 years after enactment. But since, the FCC’s approach has been anything but consistent.
Beginning in the late 2000s, the FCC undertook several attempts to impose so-called “net neutrality policies,” which prohibit Broadband Internet Service Providers from controlling users’ Internet access—by varying speeds or blocking connections to third-party websites, for example—based on content, commercial agreements, and other reasons a provider might want to manage a user’s Internet experience. Those ef
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