Overview
- A three-judge panel from the 8th Circuit vacated the FCC’s 2023 digital equity rule and told the agency to write a new rule that ensures equal broadband access without discrimination.
- The court applied the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright standard and said the FCC exceeded its authority by creating liability for “disparate impact,” which penalizes unequal results even without proof of intent.
- Judges also faulted the rule for sweeping in contractors and other partners of internet providers, and they threw out the regulation in full.
- Parties have 45 days to seek rehearing, and the FCC now faces a fresh rulemaking that could leave providers and communities unsure about how to comply in the near term.
- FCC Chair Brendan Carr praised the decision after dissenting in the 3–2 vote that adopted the rule, as the broader fight over DEI features in separate FCC scrutiny of Disney’s ABC station licenses.