https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191001/09533043103/court-says-fcc-cant-stop-states-protecting-net-neutrality.shtml

Today a federal appeals court delivered a decidedly mixed decision in the FCC's ongoing quest to kill net neutrality and telecom sector oversight. On the one hand, the new 2-1 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit backs much of the FCC's Orwellian-named "Restoring Internet Freedom" order, which not only repealed the FCC's 2015 net neutrality rules, but gutted much of the agency's authority over broadband providers, shoveling any remaining oversight to an FTC that experts say lacks the authority or resources to actually police giants like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast (the whole point).

But the ruling wasn't without a few notable catches. The court was quick to kick several aspects of the FCC's comically-named "Restoring Internet Freedom" back to the FCC for revision. The court noted the FCC failed completely to explore how the repeal would harm public safety and efforts like the FCC's Lifeline program, which doles out a modest $9 monthly subsidy to low-income users to be used on wireless, phone, or broadband service (they have to choose one). Pai's been trying to undermine this Reagan-era program for several years, so the fact his FCC didn't think about the impact gutting FCC authority would have isn't surprising.