On Sunday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the country’s strictest net neutrality protections into law. This came after weeks of steps forward and backward, as big telecom companies fought hard to stop the Golden State from doing what the majority of citizens in our country want them to do—protect consumers from the greed of our communications industry. About one hour after Gov. Brown signed the law, the Trump administration announced it would be suing the state.
The lawsuit argues that California’s approach is “unlawful and anti-consumer” because it imposes burdensome regulations on the Internet and goes against the federal government’s approach.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he will defend the federal government’s position.
State Senator Scott Wiener pointed out that California has experienced Trump’s fascistic overreach before.
“In their world, no one is allowed to protect an open internet,” he said. “We’ve been down this road before: when Trump and Sessions sued California and claimed we lacked the power to protect immigrants. California fought Trump and Sessions on their immigration lawsuit — California won — and California will fight this lawsuit as well.”
The only reason states like California find themselves creating these consumer protections is because under Republican FCC chair Ajit Pai, the FCC has shirked its responsibilities in the matter.