D.C. Circuit Court strikes down FCC Comcast ruling, limits FCC ancillary authority

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rules that the Federal Communications Commission exceeded its authority when it sanctioned Comcast for throttling BitTorrent traffic. The court finds that the FCC lacked "statutorily mandated responsibility" to enforce network neutrality, as the agency relied on ancillary authority derived from policy statements rather than explicit statutory grants. The decision vacates the FCC's order against Comcast and establishes that the FCC must identify a specific statutory responsibility before exercising ancillary jurisdiction, significantly constraining the FCC's ability to regulate internet practices absent explicit Congressional authority.