Attorneys General of Texas, Arkansas, and Nebraska help FCC kill net neutrality and preempt state laws

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The Federal Communications Commission's repeal of network neutrality rules has received support from the Republican attorneys general of TX, AR, and NE. The three states filed a brief Oct 19 in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, urging judges to reject a lawsuit filed against the FCC by 22 other states. The action highlights a partisan split among state attorneys general: states with Democratic attorneys general are fighting to save net neutrality while states with Republican attorneys general are either fighting against net neutrality or standing on the sidelines. 

The net neutrality repeal has drawn interest from state governments partly because the FCC claimed that it can preempt states from enacting their own net neutrality rules. The states' lawsuit against the FCC seeks to reinstate federal net neutrality rules and prevent preemption of state laws, such as one just passed in CA. But the TX/AR/NE brief supports the FCC's authority to change decisions made by previous administrations. The FCC's new leadership can look at the same set of facts and come to a different conclusion without violating the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which dictates how agencies can make policy changes, they wrote.


Attorneys General of Texas, Arkansas, and Nebraska help FCC kill net neutrality and preempt state laws