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A federal appeals court has agreed to halt the reinstatement of net neutrality rules until August 5th, while the court considers whether more permanent action is justified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It\u2019s the latest setback in a long back and forth on net neutrality \u2014 the principle that internet service providers (ISPs) should not be able to block or throttle internet traffic in a discriminatory manner. The Federal Communications Commission has sought to achieve this by reclassifying ISPs under Title II of the Communications Act, which gives the agency greater regulatory oversight. The Democratic-led agency enacted net neutrality rules under the Obama administration, only for those rules to be repealed under former President Donald Trump\u2019s FCC. The current FCC, which has three Democratic and two Republican commissioners, voted in April to bring back net neutrality<\/a>. The 3\u20132 vote was divided along party lines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Broadband providers have since challenged the FCC\u2019s action, which is potentially more vulnerable after the Supreme Court\u2019s recent decision to strike down Chevron deference<\/a> \u2014\u00a0a legal doctrine that instructed courts to defer to an agency\u2019s expert decisions except in a very narrow range of circumstances. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Schettenhelm said in a report prior to the court\u2019s ruling<\/a> that he doesn\u2019t expect the FCC to prevail in court, in large part due to the demise of Chevron<\/em>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n A panel of judges for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said in an order that a temporary \u201cadministrative stay is warranted\u201d while it considers the merits of the broadband providers\u2019 request for a permanent stay. The administrative stay will be in place until August 5th. In the meantime, the court requested the parties provide additional briefs about the application of National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services<\/em><\/a> to this lawsuit. Brand X <\/em>is a 2005 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the FCC had lawfully interpreted the Communications Act to exclude cable broadband providers from the definition of \u201ctelecommunications services.\u201d At the time, SCOTUS said the lower court should have followed Chevron <\/em>and deferred to the agency\u2019s interpretation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n