>I don't think the FCC did, nor can they, create a new "federal law" though, right? That's a tricky question. At a high school civics class level, no they cann

>I don't think the FCC did, nor can they, create a new "federal law" though, right? That's a tricky question. At a high school civics class level, no they cannot create new law because only Congress can. But the reality of the modern regulatory state is that Congress has delegated much of its law making powers to specialized experts in executive branch agencies, including independent agencies like the FCC. So they can adopt regulations that have the force of law but are not statutory, though only to the extent that Congress has authorized them to do so. Those regulations are for all intents and purposes laws. However, a federal agency's regulations cannot preempt state law on their own; they can only preempt to the same extent that Congress preempted state law in the statute delegating authority to the agency. And yes, states can regulate where their laws don't conflict with federal laws or regulations. But there's a limit. Congress can enact laws which implicitly preempt state regulation because the federal regulatory scheme is so complete that it "fully occupies the field" leaving no room for supplemental state regulation. In which case, states cannot regulate. I would be surprised if a court held that the feds have field preempted internet regulation, given how much it ties into areas of traditional state primacy such as property law. But who knows these days.