WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s landmark net neutrality rules, ending a nearly two-decade effort to regulate broadband internet providers as utilities.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said the FCC lacked the authority to reinstate rules that prevented broadband providers from slowing or blocking access to internet content. In its opinion Thursday, a three-judge panel pointed to a Supreme Court decision in June, known as Loper Bright, that overturned a 1984 legal precedent that gave deference to government agencies on regulations.

“Applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC’s vacillations,” the court ruled.

The court’s decision put an end to the Biden administration’s hallmark tech policy, which had drawn impassioned support from consumer groups and tech giants like Google and fierce protests from telecommunications giants like Comcast and AT&T.

The FCC had voted in April to restore net neutrality regulations, which expand government oversight of broadband providers and aim to protect consumer access to the internet. The regulations were first put in place nearly a decade ago under the Obama administration and were aimed at preventing internet service providers like Verizon or Comcast from blocking or degrading the delivery of services from competitors like Netflix and YouTube. The rules were repealed under President-elect Donald Trump in his first administration, but they continued to be a contentious partisan issue that pit tech giants against broadband providers.

Thursday’s decision effectively concludes the back-and-forth battle.

Brendan Carr, whom Trump has named as the incoming FCC chair, has been a critic of net neutrality. The court’s reliance on the Loper case in its ruling could also portend more lawsuits to hollow out federal regulations at the FCC and other agencies.

The court’s decision doesn’t affect state laws on net neutrality in California, Colorado and Washington. Democrats at the FCC called on Congress to create laws promoting net neutrality, signaling that the issue may continue to fester.

“Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open and fair,” said Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the FCC and a Democrat who had pushed for the reinstatement of the rules. “It is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality and put open internet principles in federal law.”

Judge Richard Allen Griffin, who wrote Thursday’s opinion, said that the panel of judges acknowledged that the internet is complicated and that the FCC “has significant expertise in overseeing ‘this technical and complex area.’ ”

But the FCC’s interpretation of its authority to define broadband internet service akin to phone service exceeded legal definitions in the Telecommunications Act, he wrote. “The FCC lacks the statutory authority to impose its desired net-neutrality policies,” he said.