Courts & Law

Federal Court Ruling: Is this Beginning of the End for Net Neutrality?

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We-the-persons750-sig-sm72-b-wby Pamela Powers Hannley

If you don’t like the way Facebook shovels advertising and promoted posts into your “news feed”, instead of the latest photos of your friends’ vacations, you’re really not going to like the new and improved Internet.

Yesterday, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn’t have the power to regulate net neutrality. What does this mean for you? Internet providers like Verizon can now cut deals with corporate giants to accelerate their content, while leaving non-commercial Internet content–like those pesky independent blogs– in the dustbin of a Google search.

From Think Progress…

Net neutrality rules were issued by the FCC to prevent broadband providers from favoring some content over other content, potentially even their own. As the two-judge majority explains, “a broadband provider like Comcast might limit its end-user subscribers’ ability to access the New York Times website if it wanted to spike traffic to its own news website, or it might degrade the quality of the connection to a search website like Bing if a competitor like Google paid for prioritized access.”

Even as they struck down these rules Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit judges concede that this concern is real, writing, “broadband providers represent a threat to Internet openness and could act in ways that would ultimately inhibit the speed and extent of future broadband deployment.” The problem, however, derives from an earlier FCC decision that even advocates of net neutrality like Free Press president Craig Aaron say was a failure of FCC leadership to “ground its Open Internet rules on solid legal footing.” [Emphasis added.]

Gov. Brewer doesn’t ‘get’ the concept of federalism

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Governor Jan Brewer clearly doesn't "get" the concept of federalism, co-equal branches of government, and judicial review. In response to the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of Arizona's abortion law appeal in Horne v. Isaacson on Monday, Brewer's PR guy Howie Fischer wants us all to know that: The high-court decision drew derision … Read more

BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court rejects Arizona’s abortion law appeal

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: For those of you heading up to the Capitol this morning for the Stand With Arizona Women rally, there is breaking news from the U.S. Supreme Court. Arizona's petition to the court requesting review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature's 20-week abortion restrictions, Horne … Read more

In the U.S. Supreme Court this week

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The U.S. Supreme Court at its Conference on Friday considered the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature's 20-week abortion restrictions, Horne v. Isaacson (13-402).This case was not among the eight cases granted immediately after the Conference on Friday. Additional orders from the January 10 Conference are due on Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST.

Monday is also the first day of the January sitting.On Monday the Court will hear oral arguments in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, the challenge to the constitutionality of the president’s recess appointments to the NLRB. The patrician prevaricator for the plutocracy, George Will, clutches his pearls and whines mightily about the president's recess appointments, while ignoring the unprecedented partisan obstruction of the president's appointments by the Tea Party tyranny of the minority in A defining moment for the Court, while the New York Times editorializes today, correctly, Protect the President’s Appointments. That's a big "screw you George Will."

On both Tuesday and Wednesday one or more opinions in argued cases are expected to be announced. The campaign finance case of McCutcheon v. FEC heard in October? It's possible.

So does this mean that Jan Brewer is running for governor?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Presente_LicensePlateAZ_300pxThe Accidental Governor, Jan Brewer, was on her way to becoming a footnote in history in 2010 until she embraced SB 1070 and churned up anti-immigrant hysteria to ride to victory.

As Brewer's PR guy Howie Fischer frequently reminds readers, Jan Brewer has not yet declared if she will be a candidate for governor this year (which would require a legal challenge to Arizona's term-limit provisions).

Jan Brewer is embracing SB 1070 again. So does this mean that Jan Brewer is running for governor? Howie Fischer reports, Brewer asks Supreme Court to allow expanded SB 1070 enforcement:

Brewer_hateGov. Jan Brewer is asking the nation’s high court to let Arizona enforce a 2010 law making it a crime to knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants.

Legal papers filed Monday on the governor’s behalf at the Supreme Court contend there is nothing improper about the state having its own laws aimed at controlling immigration. John Bouma, Brewer’s chief legal counsel, said the fact that there are federal laws criminalizing the same conduct does not pre-empt state action.

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The law in question makes it illegal for someone to transport, conceal, harbor or shield anyone unlawfully present in this country or “encourage or induce the alien to come to or live in Arizona.”

It is part of SB 1070, a broader package of measures designed to give police more power to question and detain those they believe are in the country illegally. Several provisions already have been voided by courts, including three by the Supreme Court itself, as preempted by federal law.