3 ms·
> Because the AEI is a right-libertarian propaganda mill (or, if you prefer, “think tank”) that generally (though there are some prior exceptions, too) is in lo
by chimeracoder 9y ago
> Because the AEI is a right-libertarian propaganda mill (or, if you prefer, “think tank”) that generally (though there are some prior exceptions, too) is in lockstep with the general right-libertarian minimalist interpretation of Commerce Clause authority
You'd be hard-pressed to find an ideologically libertarian person well-versed in Constitutional law who wouldn't concede that regulating interstate commerce at the federal level is covered under the Commerce Clause.
There are other grounds on which to have the discussion about net neutrality besides the Commerce Clause - and proponents of net neutrality would be well-advised to shift the discussion to those terms, because if we're strictly talking about the Commerce Clause, it's about as clear-cut as things get: the federal government has the power to regulate explicitly-interstate commercial activity.
- dragonwriter 9y agoThe issue is not whether the federal government has the authority to regulate the activity in question (which net neutrality advocates obviously agree with, since they argue that the federal government should do so in a particular way), but whether the States are preempted from regulating in this area. It's clear and not in dispute that Congress has the authority to regulate in this field. It's more controversial (though, ironically in the context of this piece, it's a large subset of neutrality opponents who dissent from the AEI position here) that the FCC has authority to regulate here, but the AEI claim is stronger than that, and it is that not only does the federal government in general and the FCC in particular have authority to regulate internet service, but that that authority is exclusive of any state authority to regulate internet service provided within the state.