US Appeals Court Won't Rehear California Net Neutrality Case
"The state law will remain in effect, after the court rejects a petition to reconsider its decision. This possibly sets up a showdown in the US Supreme Court.
The US Court of Appeals that ruled in favor of California's net neutrality law said this week that it won't reconsider its decision, dealing another blow to the broadband industry trade groups that attempted to block California from enforcing its law.
On Wednesday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a petition to rehear the case that the three judge panel decided in January. The court's 3-0 decision upheld a previous ruling that said states have a right to adopt their own net neutrality protections.
Telecom groups could now ask the US Supreme Court to hear the case.
The appeals court's decision is the latest in the ongoing battle over how, or even if, the internet should have protections in place that ensure broadband companies can't abuse their power as gatekeepers to slow down or block traffic on their networks or favor their own content over a competitors'.
California adopted its new rules in 2018 after a Republican-led Federal Communications Commission in 2017 repealed federal rules that had been established under President Barack Obama. Telecom and broadband industry groups had sued to get the state law thrown out, arguing that since federal net neutrality protections were dismantled, the state had no jurisdiction to regulate broadband service.
The court in January said that 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 the state law in February 2021."
https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/us-appeals-court-wont-rehear-california-net-neutrality-case/