Minnesota Telecom Alliance v. FCC

On May 6, 2026, the Eighth Circuit vacated the FCC’s final digital discrimination rule in its entirety. The decision was welcome news for Washington Legal Foundation, which joined Pacific Legal Foundation on an amicus brief urging the result. The case arose from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a $1.2 trillion omnibus infrastructure bill that authorized the FCC to “adopt final rules to facilitate equal access to broadband internet access service. The agency used that grant of authority to impose a lawless disparate-impact regulatory regime on the nation’s broadband industry. In vacating that rule, the Eight Circuit held that the IIJA’s phrasing “based on” and the absence of any results-oriented or effects-focused language (such as “otherwise adversely affect” or “otherwise make unavailable”) limit the statute to disparate treatment (intentional discrimination) only. Because the FCC’s rule expressly adopted disparate impact (unintentional discrimination), the entire rule was unlawful and must be vacated.