US Government Sues California for Daring to Protect Net Neutrality

"At ISP lobbyist behest, the FCC included language in its net neutrality repeal attempting to “pre-empt” (read: ban) states from protecting broadband consumers in the wake of federal apathy. But legal experts like Stanford Law Professor Barbara van Schewick have argued that the FCC eliminated its right to tell states what to do when it killed net neutrality last fall.

“An agency that has no power to regulate has no power to preempt the states, according to case law,” van Schewick said in a statement provided to Motherboard.

“When the FCC repealed the 2015 Open Internet Order, it said it had no power to regulate broadband internet access providers,” van Schewick added. “That means the FCC cannot prevent the states from adopting net neutrality protections because the FCC’s repeal order removed its authority to adopt such protections.”"