One year later, net neutrality still faces attacks in court and Congress

Happy first birthday, net neutrality rules. (credit: Justin McGregor)

Today is the one-year anniversary of two of the biggest decisions made by the Federal Communications Commission under Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler.

On February 26, 2015, the FCC voted 3-2 along party lines to enforce net neutrality rules and preempt state laws that prevent the expansion of municipal broadband networks. But whether either decision will survive past Wheeler’s chairmanship is still an open question. Republicans in Congress have tried to overturn them, and lawsuits against the commission are still pending.

Trade groups representing Internet service providers sued to halt the net neutrality rules and a related reclassification of broadband as a Title II common carrier service. Judges at the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC heard oral arguments in December and could issue a decision in the next few months (though no one knows exactly when).

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