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In response to a federal appeals court ruling the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund , the Open Technology Institute (OTI), a ������Ƶ program fostering equitable access to digital technology and its benefits, issued the following statement from Raza Panjwani, a senior policy counsel at OTI.

“If left standing, yesterday’s decision will destroy critical programs that keep schools, libraries, rural health care clinics, rural communities, and low income households connected to the internet. Universal service has been the policy of the United States for nearly a century, with Congress explicitly directing the FCC to pursue that goal by statute. But the Fifth Circuit’s en banc opinion casts all that aside, jeopardizing progress to close the digital divide and dimming hope for restoring the Affordable Connectivity Program.”

To learn more about the USF, see OTI’s new explainer on the program.