The US Court of Appeals for the Washington, DC circuit has just thrown out the first net neutrality lawsuits filed against the FCC. Those cases, brought by Verizon and small wireless carrier MetroPCS, argued that the FCC's December 2010 net neutrality rules went "well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers."

Today's dismissal says nothing about the substantive issues here—this is the very definition of a "procedural" dismissal. The judges pointed out that such lawsuits challenging federal regulations can only be filed in the 30 days after those regulations have been officially published in the Federal Register. That had not happened when the cases were filed (and it still has not happened), but Verizon and MetroPCS tried to skirt the issue by claiming that the case was really about a modification to their spectrum licenses, not about the rulemaking as such.

The judges didn't buy it, and they sided with FCC lawyers. "The challenged order is a rulemaking document subject to publication in the Federal Register, and is not a licensing decision 'with respect to specific parties,'" they wrote.

The cases are almost guaranteed to be refiled once the rules are officially published.