CT Attorney General George Jepsen

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen is among attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia who have launched a legal battle challenging the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to repeal established net neutrality rules.

Jepsen and AGs from states including California, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania filed a petition for review of the decision Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They argue that the FCC's controversial Jan. 4 order restoring the framework for regulating internet service providers to what it was in 2015 is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The petition calls the FCC's order unconstitutional and in violation of the Communications Act of 1934, and asks the court to vacate the decision pending final review.

“The Internet should always remain open and free,” Jepsen said in a media release Tuesday. “In the face of the FCC's action, and the inaction of Congressional leadership to right this obvious wrong, state attorneys general are today taking this first step in asking the court to overturn the FCC's order. I'm proud to stand with my colleagues in strong support of net neutrality and opposed to the FCC's illegal action.”

Concurrently, New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman called an open internet ”critical to our democratic process” in a public statement supporting the petition. “The repeal of net neutrality would turn internet service providers into gatekeepers—allowing them to put profits over consumers while controlling what we see, what we do, and what we say online. This would be a disaster for New York consumers and businesses, and for everyone who cares about a free and open internet.”

The FCC voted in December to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, which banned content blocking and throttling practices by internet service providers (ISPs). The FCC's new order would allow ISPs to favor or disfavor certain content or content providers and charge more for certain content.

A spokesperson from the FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In defending the vote to repeal the rules last month, Republican FCC chairman Ajit Pai said the internet would remain open to all Americans.

“Following today's vote, Americans will still be able to access the websites they want to visit,” Pai said. “They will still be able to enjoy the services they want to enjoy. There will still be cops on the beat guarding a free and open Internet. This is the way things were prior to 2015, and this is the way they will be once again.”

The states plan to argue the new rules unlawfully pre-empt state and local laws concerning net neutrality, and wrongly reclassify broadband internet as a Title I information service instead of a Title II telecommunications service, which would subject ISPs to certain regulations under the Communications Act.

State AGs were not the only ones to go to court over the issue Tuesday. In a blog post, internet company Mozilla also said it would file a petition in the federal court in Washington, as did the nonprofit group Public Knowledge.

In June 2016, the D.C. Circuit upheld President Barack Obama-era rules that barred internet service providers from blocking certain content or slowing down internet speed, after twice remanding the issue to the agency.