US public-interest groups decline supreme court appeal on net neutrality, plan other strategies
With the deadline for seeking Supreme Court review expiring on August 8, the organisations said they will pursue other federal and state-level avenues to preserve and advance net neutrality protection.
Several US public-interest organisations — Free Press, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and Public Knowledge — announced Friday they will not seek Supreme Court review of a January 2025 appellate ruling that struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Net Neutrality rules.
The groups had intervened in the 6th Circuit case, where judges overturned the Biden-era FCC’s 2024 decision to classify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act. That classification had restored the FCC’s authority to enforce Net Neutrality, safeguard consumer protections, and ensure broadband providers deliver internet access on fair and nondiscriminatory terms.
The appeals court instead ruled broadband to be an ‘information service,’ a weaker legal category long favoured by the cable and phone industries, which had challenged the FCC’s policy on the grounds it would harm infrastructure investment. The ruling contradicted decades of judicial interpretation, including opinions from the late Justice Antonin Scalia and multiple federal appeals courts.
With the deadline for seeking Supreme Court review expiring on 8 August, the organisations said they will now pursue other federal and state-level avenues to preserve and advance net neutrality protections rather than seek relief from the Supreme Court.