The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has denied a Petition for Rehearing En Banc on the court’s recent decision to overturn the FCC’s Net Neutrality Order. The petition was filed by several public interest groups, including Free Press, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, and Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. The petitioners argued that a rehearing en banc (i.e., a rehearing before the full court of all active judges rather than a three-judge panel) was warranted due to the Sixth Circuit’s decision conflicting with the holdings of other federal circuits on a question of exceptional national importance. In its denial, the court found that the issues raised in the petition had already been fully considered and stated that no judge had requested a vote for a rehearing en banc. The denial leaves the Supreme Court as the next venue for a possible further net neutrality appeal.
