Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed down its decision in Mozilla v. FCC, the court case in which pro-regulation activists were trying to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Act that repealed Obama-era rules that stifled internet innovation. Today’s decision is a big win for taxpayers and customers, and enshrines rules that will enable wider and faster rollout of next-generation internet technology. At the same time, the Court overturned an FCC pre-emption rule that is cause for concern, as their decision could lead to multiple, overlapping state standards that stifle industry efforts to bring their customers the latest and greatest services.
Mozilla v. FCC was the last gasp by pro-regulation agitators to try to enshrine 1930s-era regulatory rules for the internet. That the district court shot down this desperation ploy will result in a more dynamic, faster, and widely-available high-speed internet for all Americans. Widespread utilization of cloud-based storage and teleconferencing will lead to real savings for taxpayers in terms of spending on government services, and smart grid technology and 5G rollout will bring savings to utilities and local government jurisdictions. These are the taxpayer benefits of the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, and they have been preserved now that the court has ruled against regulatory excess.
The district court did overturn a widespread pre-emption order from the FCC that was intended to preserve universal rules across the United States. This could spell trouble, as local bureaucrats in California, New York, and other states have attempted to impose burdensome European-style regulations that have harmed technological innovation on the other side of the Atlantic and caused major companies to consider reducing or relocating their operations. But while the court did overrule the FCC on pre-emption, they did not rule out FCC action on a case-by-case basis - opening the door to the FCC taking action to protect consumers and taxpayers from heavy-handed state regulation in the future.
On the whole, today’s court decision is a big win in enshrining the positive steps taken by the FCC in recent years to make American technological regulation more innovative and more dynamic, to the benefit of taxpayers and consumers. While the FCC needs to stay alert to threats from many state regulators in order to preserve these victories, it’s a positive sign that pro-regulation activists won’t be able to take to the courts to overrule the FCC.