U.S. Appeals Court Won’t Reconsider California Net Neutrality Ruling
Saga began in 2018, when the FCC as administered by then-Commissioner Ajit Pai, rescinded rules put in place in 2015 by the Obama administration.
A U.S. Court of Appeals has just ruled that it will not reconsider its decision in January to uphold California’s net neutrality law.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January ruled 3-0 that a 2017 decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reverse federal internet protections could not bar state action, rejecting a challenge from telecom and broad industry groups to block California’s net neutrality law, which aims to protect the open internet.
The appeals court on Wednesday rejected a petition for a rehearing by the full court. Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a senior counselor at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society said it was “notable that not a single judge on the nation’s largest court of appeals even asked for a vote on the industry’s rehearing petition.” Telecom groups could now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
Telecom groups could now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
The court in January said since the FCC reclassified internet services in 2017 as more lightly regulated information services, the commission “no longer has the authority to regulate in the same manner that it had when these services were classified as telecommunications services.”
A lower court judge refused to block California’s net neutrality law from taking effect after the Justice Department withdrew its separate legal challenge to California’s state law in February 2021.
California’s 2018 law barred internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic, or offering paid fast lanes, but it only took effect last year.
As a reminder, this saga began in 2018, when the FCC, as administered by then-Commissioner Ajit Pai, rescinded rules in 2015 by the Obama administration that had reclassified broadband services from “information” to “telecommunication services.”
Later that year, California passed SB 822, putting net neutrality requirements in place for California consumers, even after the rules had been gutted at the federal level by the FCC.
On the federal level, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Trump administration’s removal of net neutrality requirements in October 2019. Although the Pai FCC’s reclassification was largely upheld by the D.C. circuit court, the victory was tempered by the court’s decision, by a two-to-one margin, to vacate the FCC’s having purported to preempt “any state or local requirements that are inconsistent with [the FCC’s] de-regulatory approach.”
Given the explosion of crimes that have earned special and new designations, it’s good to see our politicians prioritizing the speed they can send their photo-ops.
Reading some banned books to figure out what these states are so afraid of. pic.twitter.com/z6eJ01NZJe
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 31, 2022
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Comments
Who wants to let Governor hair Gel know that Toni Morron’s book has never been banned anywhere.
Several sharp-eyed folks noted that the stack of books on his desk includes “To Kill A Mocking Bird” which is frequently the target for banning by Left-wing “antiracists” who object to the language and subject matter in the book.
And also, that’s he’s not in middle school anymore.
Why isn’t he reading Hustler, which also isn’t banned anywhere? Is that OK for school, too?
The question is whether the nationwide providers will simply stop doing business in California (or spinning off subsidiaries), or whether they’ll buckle and simply do net neutrality across the country because California is such a large market.
The automakers caved on a lot of things, but not all. The pork producers didn’t give an inch. Networking is complicated by some of the country’s major suppliers (like Netflix) being physically operated out of California (Big Tech central).
Didn’t Netflix just have a 70% stock price drop though?
Sort of feels like the old joke about the priceless ming vase…
Yes, but it had absolutely no connection to California’s Net Neutrality.
True. I guess it’s just funny watching them go to eat the goose that laid their golden eggs, only to find out it’s already dead.
Mental giant Alexandra O Crazy O Cortez:
If the GOP retakes the house, they can overturn a future presidential election!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/aoc-warns-that-a-gop-house-would-overturn-an-election-january-6-was-a-trial-run
1. I’m not sure how you overturn an election that has not happend yet.
2. There are no predential elections before the next congressional election.
I would comment, but I was told I would die if FCC ended Net Neutrality. So I guess I’m dead and shouldn’t comment.
I can still vote if I live in a Dem city!