Trump Is Correct on Net Neutrality Court Win - But That Wasn’t the Whole Ruling
Correct - As Far As It Goes
President Donald Trump early Monday morning Tweeted:
“We just WON the big court case on Net Neutrality Rules! A great win for the future and speed of the internet. Will lead to many big things including 5G. Congratulations to the FCC and its Chairman, Ajit Pai!”
All of which is absolutely correct.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit did in fact rule the Trump Administration’s decision to undo the Barack Obama Administration’s unilateral, illegal imposition of the ridiculous Network Neutrality - was Constitutional and legal.
The courts upholding the Trump Administration restoring order - after lawless Obama Administration illegal, unilateral power grabs - is by no means a fait d’acomppli.
Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump’s Attempt to End DACA
The Obama Administration - under its unilateral, illegal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) - declared ill-defined, amorphous amnesty from prosecution for millions of illegal aliens.
Somehow, multiple clowns in gowns have ruled the Trump Administration’s attempt to revert to immigration law actually passed by our elected Congress - is illegal. The courts - are thereby codifying the Obama Administration’s lawlessness.
So we are thankful for the DC Circuit’s excellent tether to Constitutional sanity with its Net Neutrality rollback ruling.
Most unfortunately, the Court left open a hole huge enough for a Leftist caravan to roll on through:
“The federal appeals court's decision upheld the FCC's reclassification of broadband Internet access service as an information service, rather than as a telecommunications service, but argued that states can pass their own net neutrality legislation.”
Emphasis ours - because that is a TERRIBLE ruling:
“This…(is) a clear violation of the (Constitution’s) Commerce Clause:
‘[The Congress shall have Power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.’
“The Commerce Clause was - like all of the Constitution - a government-limiting entry. It was written to prevent states from big-government-imposing barriers to interstate commerce.
“How to Understand the Commerce Clause in One Simple Sentence:
“‘Congress has the authority to regulate trade between the states; or in other words, the process of goods and services moving from one state to another. Not the products themselves. Not the process of creating those products. Just the act of the products moving from state to state. That’s it.’
“Get that eminent simplicity?
“Let us…focus on the ‘trade between the states…(and) the process of goods and services moving from one state to another.’
“Bits on the Internet - criss-cross state and international borders hundreds of millions of times a second.
“To think that a single U.S. state here or there has the prerogative to regulate something that is so obviously a Commerce-Clause-federal-responsibility - is warped, ideological nonsense.
“It violates both the letter and the spirit of the deregulatory Commerce Clause.
“Because it exponentially grows government.”
Indeed it does. To trained lawyers appointed as judges - all of this should be quite obvious:
“(T)he WORLD Wide Web is clearly a federal government issue. The Feds determine our nation’s Internet policy. And then The Feds negotiate Internet interactions with other nations.”
The federal government cannot successfully do that - if its policy is incessantly being exceeded or undercut by a state here or there.
State-by-State Net Neutrality Laws Breakdown:
“More than half of states in America are opposing the FCC's ‘Internet Freedom’ bill with local Net Neutrality state laws.”
Washington Governor Signs First State Net Neutrality Bill
California’s Net Neutrality Bill Is Back and as Tough as Ever:
“‘This will be the most comprehensive and the strongest net neutrality protection in the United States, where we are restoring what we lost when Donald Trump’s FCC obliterated net neutrality,’ (Democrat state Senator Scott) Wiener told reporters….”
So the DC Circuit Court’s ruling - undercuts its ruling.
Their Honors ruled the Trump Administration can restore order - until the many states destroy order.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - will be forced to deal with an insane patchwork quilt of fifty different Net Neutrality regulatory regimes.
Complying with this nightmare mess - is going to cost ISPs a LOT of time and money.
Time and money I’d rather them spend - on increasing speeds and decreasing prices.
The federal government will have to take this titanic mishmash of fifty-state-regime Brunswick Stew (a dish famous for containing any and everything). And try to cobble together a semi-coherent federal policy. So as to try to incorporate our Internet - with the rest of the planet’s Internet.
Are you familiar with the expression…?
A Camel Is a Horse Designed by a Committee:
“An expression critical of committees - or by analogy, group decision-making - by emphasizing the ineffectiveness of incorporating too many conflicting opinions into a single project through compromise.
“In this figure of speech, the distinguishing features of a camel, such as its humps and poor temperament, are taken to be the deformities that resulted from its poor design.”
Imagine a REALLY surly camel - with fifty different humps.
That will be US Internet policy.
An incoherent mess. Caused by federal officials having to constantly look over their shoulders for fifty different, often shifting Net Neutrality regulatory mandates.
Rather than looking forward - at how to best situate US in the global Internet regime.
This ain’t great for our nation.
This ain’t in compliance with the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.
The latter, of course - guarantees the former.
Because, as always - the further we get from Constitutional compliance…the worse things get for us all.
This first appeared in Red State.