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upstart writes:

ISPs can't find any judges who will block California net neutrality law:

The broadband industry has lost another attempt to block California's net neutrality law.

After ISP lobby groups' motion for a preliminary injunction was denied last year in US District Court for the Eastern District of California, they appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A three-judge panel unanimously upheld the ruling against the broadband industry in January, after which the industry groups petitioned for a rehearing with all of the appellate court's judges (called an "en banc" hearing).

The answer came back Wednesday: No judges on the appeals court thought the broadband industry's petition for a rehearing was even worth voting on.

"The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. The petition for rehearing en banc is denied," the order said.

California can thus continue enforcing its net neutrality law while the case continues.

"It is notable that not a single judge on the nation's largest court of appeals even asked for a vote on the industry's rehearing petition," Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior counselor for the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, said in a statement responding to the denial. The court has 29 judgeships and all 29 are currently filled.

Schwartzman also said the denial "is hardly a surprise. The Ninth Circuit's unanimous panel opinion affirming the lower court's decision allowing the new law to go into effect followed established principles. Its finding that federal law does not preclude California from adopting its own network neutrality rules is rock solid."

[...] The state of Washington is also enforcing a net neutrality law. While the Pai FCC attempted to preempt all such state net neutrality laws, an appeals court ruled that it couldn't do so.

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